Are you one of the 13,442 Port Phillip locals who recently received an ‘Apparent failure to vote notice’ in the post from the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC)?
Electoral Commissioner Sven Bluemmel says the VEC is urging people who receive a notice to respond with a detailed explanation, as the VEC is required to issue a fine of $99 if a person fails to respond in writing within 28 days.
‘An ‘Apparent failure to vote notice’ is not a fine – it’s a chance to explain why you appear not to have voted,’ Mr Bluemmel said.
‘If you respond to the notice in writing with a valid reason and evidence, you are much more likely to be excused.
‘Completing and sending the notice back to us within the 28-day timeframe gives us a chance to consider your explanation and whether you can be excused.’
Voting in local council elections is compulsory in Victoria if you were enrolled to vote.
Fines totalling $1.3M could be issued
Figures from the VEC about the previous Council election (2020) show there were 11,313 apparent failure to notices issued to enrolled voters in the Port Phillip Local Council election in 2020. Subsequently 8,518 infringement notices were issued to those who failed to provide a valid reason for not voting – that’s $843K in fines.
In other words, about 75% of people who failed to vote copped a $99 fine. If that applied to the 2024 vote, about $1M will be collected in fines.
But wait there’s more
About 35% of voters failed to cast a ballot in the recent Prahran by-election. The ‘Apparent failure to vote notice’ will be issued for that ballot in early April. That will be another fine mess for many!
Fine print from the VEC
Here’s the ‘fine print’ about the process verbatim from the VEC
Compulsory voting enforcement in Victoria comprises 3 phases:
- Apparent failure to vote notice. This notice requires people who appear not to have voted to provide a detailed explanation for their apparent failure to vote. There is no infringement attached to this notice and recipients have 28 days to respond in writing.
- Infringement notice. This notice will be sent to people who do not respond to the notice, or who do not provide a valid and sufficient excuse for failing to vote. An infringement (a fine of $99) is attached to this notice, with 35 days to respond in writing.
- Penalty reminder notice. This notice is sent to people who do not respond to the infringement notice. A penalty reminder fee is added to the original penalty amount and recipients have 28 days to respond. If at the completion of the penalty reminder stage the non-voter has not paid the infringement (and any penalty reminder fee), their details may be provided to the Director, Fines Victoria for further enforcement action.
Anyone issued with an infringement by the VEC who is experiencing financial hardship is encouraged to make contact with the VEC.
