Thread by @Mon4Kooyong

⚠️ Do you know anyone who tested positive for COVID between Saturday and Tuesday 6pm? 🦠

Unless they have already voted or applied for a postal vote before now, they won’t be able to vote at all.

This is a major problem. 🧵

#ausvotes #KooyongVotes

Here’s the story. If you tested positive for COVID you have to isolate for 7 days. Which means not voting in person.

So the @AusElectoralCom has helpfully set up phone voting for this election, so if you test positive today you’ll still be able to vote.

So far, so good…

BUT the @AusElectoralCom only offers phone voting to people who tested positive after Tuesday 6pm.

Anyone who tested positive between Saturday and Tuesday 6pm and hasn't applied for a postal vote… can’t vote.

At least 201,000 people tested positive during that period, according to case numbers.

Which is 1.2% of the electoral roll.

That’s enough to determine the result in many close races. There were 8 electorates closer than that in 2019. Right now #Kooyong looks that close too.

The AEC says these people had a chance to apply for a postal vote. But postal vote applications closed last night.

I think it’s safe to assume that a great many people who were in their sick beds with COVID didn’t know about the postal vote deadline.

I’m going to guess that young people, people who speak a different language at home, etc are VERY unlikely to have known about this.

The @AusElectoralCom does a fantastic job running elections and COVID is a difficult complication.

But this is not hard to fix. All it requires is that these affected electors are able to vote by phone.

So here are my questions for the @AusElectoralCom.

1. Why is the AEC not willing to extend phone voting to these affected people?

2. How many postal vote applications did the AEC receive between Saturday and Tuesday 6pm?

3. Given that anyone affected by this is now legally required to vote, but also legally required to isolate at home, which law would the @AusElectoralCom advise them to break?

As above, it would be easy for the AEC to fix this and ensure 201,000+ voters are not disenfranchised.

If this affects you or a family member directly, please DM me your name, phone number and electorate

Since posting about the disenfranchisement of voters who have recently tested positive, I've heard from many who are personally affected and very distressed.

I have engaged a legal team to look at what can be done to ensure that all Australians can vote.

https://twitter.com/Mon4Kooyong/status/1527134597762363392?s=20&t=7hlGkXGhaWe_el2elIh_-g

https://twitter.com/Mon4Kooyong/status/1527231808118849536?s=20&t=4LXpF5OQ1NAefHRDLK7c4A