Nearly half a million Australians -- mostly young, Indigenous or migrant Australians -- won't vote at this year's election unless our political leaders pass electoral reforms in the Senate tonight.
In 2006 the Howard Government passed the misleadingly named 'Electoral Integrity Act'. Now Australians only have until 8pm the day election writs are issued to enrol to vote or change their enrolment details, rather than 7 days. 423,975 people enrolled to vote during that 7 day period in 2004 - but under the current law many of those people will miss out.
These laws were a step backward to the days when voting was for some, not for all. Tonight the Senate will debate putting an end to this unfair law - but the amendments are on a knife's edge: Senator Fielding of Family First has the deciding vote.
Click below to send a message Senator Fielding today and tell him we're counting on his vote.
www.getup.org.au/campaign/our_votes_stopped
Our voting rights say so much about our country. We once denied women and Indigenous Australians the right to vote, and so denied them a full place in our society.
Young, Indigenous, migrant and poorer Australians are missing out on a vote because of the Howard Government's changes. These are people we should be making every effort to enfranchise -- and we can't stand for any law that diminishes their opportunity to vote.
Tonight the Senate has an opportunity to reverse the Howard Government's changes -- but the bill rests on the vote of Senator Fielding. Can you take a few minutes to get in touch with Senator Fielding and ask him to vote 'yes' to fix Australia's electoral laws?
www.getup.org.au/campaign/our_votes_stopped
We must never again deny nor delay any Australian their right to vote -- never inhibit nor discourage their participation in our democracy. With your support, tonight we can restore a hallmark of our democracy.
Yours in hope,
The GetUp Team.
PS - Every year 17% of Australians move house -- and if you've ever been among them you know that filling out a form for the AEC is pretty low on your huge to-do list. And those of us with kids understand that with everything going on in their lives, many 18-year-olds don't enrol to vote straight away. The most sensible time to update your enrolment details is when the election is called. And that's exactly what hundreds of thousands of Australians have always done -- but this year they could be too late.