Electoral roll data entitlement

Updated: 1 October 2024

Who is entitled to electoral roll data?

The AEC must provide electoral roll data to a range of persons and organisations who are entitled to receive data (entitled entities) under section 90B of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Electoral Act).

This webpage is for the following entitled entities:

  • members of the House of Representatives (MPs)
  • senators
  • registered political parties.

Further information about other persons and organisations who may be entitled to receive electoral roll data is available in FAQs: Electoral roll data entitlement.

What are your entitlements to electoral roll data?

An MP is entitled to electoral roll data for the division for which they were elected and any other division that after the redistribution, includes the division, or a part of the division, for which the member is elected.

A senator is entitled to electoral roll data for the state or territory for which they were elected.

A federally registered political party is entitled to electoral roll data only for the states or territories in which it is organised. A party is considered to be organised in a state or territory if the address of the party’s Registered Officer as listed on the AEC’s Register of Political Parties is within that state or territory. A party is also considered to be organised in a state or territory where:

  • the party has a current sitting federal MP or senator in that state or territory, and/or
  • the party has a federally registered branch or division organised in that state or territory, and/or
  • the party has a federally recognised branch or division organised in that state or territory.

See Political party registration for further information about registering a party. (Note that being registered with a state or territory electoral commission is not sufficient.)

How do you access your entitlement?

Electoral Roll Access

Electoral Roll Access (ERA) is the AEC’s secure online system to allow access to electoral roll data entitlements. ERA contains an extract of the electoral roll data for each division, state or territory that a MP, senator or registered political party is entitled to.

Who can use ERA?

Access to ERA is only available to MPs, senators and registered political parties (entitled entities) or delegates they authorise to download and use the data on their behalf, such as office staff or data bureaus (delegates).

Unauthorised access to electoral roll data is prohibited by law. The Data Use Guidelines assist the entitled entity or their delegate to understand the permitted purpose and use of electoral roll data, penalties, privacy and security.

How does an entitled entity apply for access to the entitlement?

  • You will need to complete the appropriate Request for Access to Electoral Roll Data form (see below).
  • On the form you can select either yourself as the ERA user or a delegate you authorise to download and use the data on your behalf.
  • The user must then create an account in ERA to submit the request form. This is a one-off requirement and requires users to prove their identity. This is required so that the AEC can protect access to electoral roll data.
  • The AEC will process the request, confirm the entitlement to data, and email ERA users when electoral roll data is available.

Forms for accessing electoral roll data

A request for access to electoral roll data can be submitted at any point of the parliamentary cycle.

MPs and senators

Registered political parties

How to submit this form

This form must be submitted in ERA by the person who is going to be downloading and using the data (the ERA user). They need to:

  • Access ERA and create an ERA account, if they don’t already have one.
  • Submit the completed form in ERA.

Logging into Electoral Roll Access (ERA)

Electoral Roll Access

ERA is a system only used by Members of Parliament, Senators, Registered Political Parties and their delegates.

If you wish to update your enrolment details, please click on the following link to update your details:
Electoral Roll - Update my details

If you have any further questions regarding your enrolment, please contact us at info@aec.gov.au or 13 23 26.

If you are a Member of Parliament, Senator, Authorised Officer of a Registered Political Party or their delegate, you can login to ERA here.

Downloading data

The ERA release schedule provides expected release dates, noting it is subject to change.

The AEC will advise ERA users by email when electoral roll data is available to access.

The ERA user can then log into ERA and download the data as a zipped file in tab delimited text format, which can be opened in any application that supports delimited text files. Go to Downloading electoral roll data files from ERA for further guidance.

ERA user guides

The following guides provide assistance for ERA users:

What are the permitted uses of electoral roll data?

The permitted uses of electoral roll data by an MP, a senator or a registered political party (or their authorised delegates) are:

  • any purpose in connection to an election or referendum
  • research regarding electoral matters
  • monitoring the accuracy of information contained in an electoral roll
  • for an MP or senator, the performance by the MP or senator of their functions in relation to electors in the area to which the data file relates
  • for a registered political party, the performance by an MP or senator who is a member of the party of their functions in relation to electors in the area to which the data file relates.

The list of permitted purposes is set out in section 91A of the Electoral Act.

What period is ERA supplied?

Electoral Roll information provided through ERA is supplied for the whole parliamentary cycle up until a federal election is called.  When the House of Representatives is dissolved (once writs are issued), Members of Parliament (MPs) are no longer entitled to access ERA.

Senators remain entitled to access ERA until expiration of their term unless there is a double dissolution.  Upon a double dissolution Senators access to ERA will be removed at the same time as MPs.

Current Senators and registered political parties will receive a final ERA cycle after the close of rolls.  Access to ERA for the Parliamentary cycle will cease on the day before polling day.

Access to ERA for entitled MPs, Senators and registered political parties for the new parliament will commence as soon as possible after the Return of the Writ and when the details of entitlement for MPs and Senators are available from the Australian Parliament House website.

Entitlement to access ERA is also removed when a MP or Senator leaves parliament and if a registered political party ceases to be registered. A MP, Senator or registered political party can request the revocation of an approved roll access request, at any time, by emailing rps@aec.gov.au.

Contact us

The Roll Products and Services team can assist you with enquiries or feedback related to ERA or electoral roll data. Email rps@aec.gov.au or phone 02 6271 4696.

Further information