Accessing the Commonwealth electoral roll by organisations for identity verification purposes

Updated: 31 August 2022

The AEC is a data issuer to the Document Verification Service (DVS). The DVS is a secure, national online verification service administered by the Department of Home Affairs. It enables approved users to verify information on identity documents against the corresponding record held by the document provider. It directs matching requests and responses between users and data issuers. The DVS provides an automated response to auditable electronic queries as to whether identity information provided in that query matches the information held on its corresponding record. It does not retain identity information once a request or response has been sent.

Access to the DVS is available to authorised Government and Business Users and is not available for ad-hoc verifications for individuals. Individuals can check their enrolment details using the AEC’s Check my Enrolment facility.

Private sector organisations currently receiving extracts of the Commonwealth electoral roll from the AEC for identity verification purposes under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act 2006 or the Financial Transactions Reports Act 1988 will transition away from this arrangement. The Department of Home Affairs will administer all future access to the electoral roll via the DVS. All enquiries about the DVS should be directed to www.idmatch.gov.au.