LS5881 Released Document No. 21
DIVERGENCE
ESTIMATES BRIEF - Hot Issue
Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration
Private hearing JSCEM – 24 February 2016
ROLL DIVERGENCE
Issue:
How can electoral rolls diverge?
Key Facts:
Electoral roll divergence occurs where an elector has a different enrolment
status or address for state and federal purposes, and occurs as a result of
differences in legislation or practice between the Commonwealth and
states/territories.
These differences are predominantly focussed in New South Wales,
Victoria and Western Australia.
Electoral roll divergence can cause considerable confusion at election time,
particularly where enrolments are for different addresses for state and
federal purposes. A similar situation occurs where people are eligible but
are not enrolled to vote in one jurisdiction but are enrolled in the other
jurisdiction.
In early February 2016, the Australian Electoral Commission updated the
Federal electoral roll following the operation of a direct update and
enrolment event that commenced in December 2015. This reduced the
number of divergent records by 27 per cent from 785,000 on 31 December
2015 to 571,000 on 7 February 2016.
The integrity of the electoral roll is critical to our electoral system. I am
advised that the Australian Electoral Commission is continuing to actively
address this matter.
1
Background:
As at 7 February 2016, there were 570,000 enrolments for persons aged 18 and over that
were divergent due to procedural reasons.
Single enrolment
Dual enrolment (a)
Total
Federal only
State only
Federal leading
State leading
NSW
-
68,325
95
77,361
145,781
VIC
71,163
33,295
96,511
60,378
261,347
QLD
-
-
1
-
1
WA
60,205
593
101,231
275
162,304
SA
6
813
9
284
1,112
TAS
-
-
-
-
-
ACT
-
-
1
-
1
NT
1
-
-
-
1
Total
131,375
103,026
197,848
138,298
570,547
The difference between the State/Territory rolls and the Commonwealth roll is smaller
than the overall divergence because some electors are enrolled at both Commonwealth
and State/Territory level, but at different addresses.
There are also some electors who are only eligible to vote in Federal elections, while
others are only eligible to vote in state/territory elections.
As at 7 February 2016, the following numbers of persons aged 18 and over were
respectively enrolled on the Commonwealth electoral roll and the relevant state or
territory roll in relation to each of the states and territories.
Commonwealth
State Roll
Who is larger
Difference between
Roll
Commonwealth over State
Number
%
NSW
5,046,265
5,119,342 State
-73,077
-1.4%
VIC
3,920,537
3,871,374 Federal
49,163
1.3%
Qld
3,031,253
3,030,051 Federal
1,202
0.0%
WA
1,555,811
1,487,433 Federal
68,378
4.4%
SA
1,171,068
1,171,969 State
-901
-0.1%
Tas
370,907
370,855 Federal
52
0.0%
ACT
276,727
276,236 Federal
491
0.2%
NT
130,021
130,020 Federal
1
0.0%
Australia
15,502,589
15,457,280
Federal
45,309
0.3%
Date:
8 February 2016
Cleared by (SES):
Tom Rogers
Telephone No:
6271 4400
Group/Branch:
Roll Management
Contact Officer:
Andrew Gately
Telephone No:
6271 4506
Consultation:
Nil
PDR Number:
2