Same-sex marriage: 90,000 people added to electoral role ahead of postal survey

An extra 90,000 Australians have added their names to the electoral roll since the announcement of the postal survey on legalising same-sex marriage.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has released the data after Thursday evening’s deadline for voters to update their details ahead of the optional ballot.

The AEC received 765,000 requests from eligible voters to either join the electoral roll or update their details to ensure postal ballot papers arrived at the right address.

Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers suggested it was a significant result, because there was a “trend throughout recent electoral cycles for enrolment rates to dip mid-cycle”.

In comparison, the AEC processed over 687,000 enrolment transactions — voters either updating details or joining the electoral roll — with about 132,000 of those enrolling to vote before the 2016 federal election.

Despite its job in managing the electoral roll, the AEC will not be managing the postal survey…

Source: Same-sex marriage: 90,000 people added to electoral role ahead of postal survey – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)