Thread by @AusElectoralCom

We’ve had a lot of questions about accessibility for flood-affected voters in Lismore and the Northern Rivers. These are fair questions and we take accessibility for all voters seriously. 🧵 below for our answers.

#auspol #ausvotes2022

First, we’re on the ground. AEC staff, including our senior managers, have visited the area and divisional teams are working locally to provide voting services to the community.

For enrolment (which has now closed) we contacted flood-affected voters directly to discuss their options. These options included updating enrolment details to add a temporary or permanent address for those who needed to relocate.

A lot of voters who are in temp accommodation may want to apply for a postal vote. This is fine – our online application form allows you to specify an address you want your postal vote delivered to, plus a specific time. Postal votes can be delivered to hotels and caravan parks.

We recognise that some voters have relocated away from Lismore, but in Lismore we have two early voting centres operating with extended hours (8am to 8pm daily). These are the Southern Cross University campus and the Carrington St Salvos store.

For election day itself in Lismore we’ll have five polling places available, and we’re investigating other short-notice options. This is a comparable footprint to 2019 (7 election day venues) noting the difficulties. See aec.gov.au/election/votin…

For Woodburn and Broadwater, polling places were originally not available due to flood damage and we were encouraging voters to visit Evans Head or Wardell, however we are now revisiting options for these towns.

Altogether, there are 76 polling places throughout the Page electorate, with 10 early voting centres available. In Richmond, there are 55 polling places and 10 early voting centres.

In addition to our website listings and advertising campaign, we’re also working with local media to communicate the voting options available.