ECSA
There are options for people with special needs or with specific circumstances that may affect their enrolment.
- Long-term travellers within Australia (who will return to a permanent enrolled address)
- Overseas
- People with no fixed address (itinerant, homeless, living in crisis or transitional accommodation)
- Prisoners
- Registered declaration voters
- Silent electors
- Unable to sign name due to physical incapacity
To become a registered declaration voter, you can register online with the AEC
This is an external link to the Australian Electoral Commission.
For any questions about the register of declared voters, call 13 23 26.
Long-term travellers within Australia
If you are travelling around Australia for an extended period but intend to return to your permanent address, you can inform the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) of your absence from your permanent address to make sure you are not removed from the electoral roll.
Travellers voting in SA state elections
A number of voting options are available to you during a state election, including:
- voting by post
- voting at an early voting centre in South Australia before polling day
- voting at an interstate electoral commission office before polling day
If you are travelling and unable to vote during a South Australian state election you can contact us by:
- completing the enquiry form (stating your reason for not voting)
- calling us on 1300 655 232
Overseas
It is not compulsory to vote at South Australian elections if you are travelling or living overseas.
You will be automatically excused from voting in state elections if you notify the AEC that you are travelling or living overseas. Find out more on the AEC's website.
Overseas during a SA state election
If you were overseas for a state election or by-election (and did not notify the AEC) you will be excused for not voting by sending us an email using our enquiry form. Please include your full name, date of birth and enrolled address.
People with no fixed address
If you are an Australian citizen and aged 18 years or over, and have no real place of living, you may be eligible to enrol as an itinerant voter. You must complete a specific enrolment form.
You can complete the enrolment form or find more information about enrolling as a person with no fixed address on the AEC's website.
Voting in SA state elections
You can attend any polling booth in South Australia or an interstate early voting centre. If you are enrolled as a person with no fixed address and do not vote, you will not be fined. Your name will be removed from the electoral roll but you can re-enrol at any time.
Prisoners
It is compulsory for South Australian prisoners to vote in state elections and keep their enrolment details up to date. If you are currently serving a prison sentence you may need to update your enrolment details. Find out more information on the AEC's website.
Registered declaration voters
The Electoral Commission SA (ECSA) maintains a register of voters who meet a certain criteria that prevents them from attending a polling booth at state elections and by-elections. These voters are called registered declaration voters for state elections and general postal voters for federal elections.
Once registered, ECSA will automatically send out a postal voting pack at each election. You do not need to re-apply for future elections.
To apply to become a registered declaration voter you must meet one of the following criteria that prevent you from attending a polling place on polling day:
Eligibility criteria
- Distance – you are enrolled at an address more than 20 km away from any polling place
- Illness – you are a patient at a hospital or nursing home and unable to travel to a polling place
- Infirmity – you are unable to travel to a polling place due to being infirm or seriously ill at home
- Caring for others – caring for a person who is seriously ill or infirm
- Physical disability – you are unable to sign your name due to a physical incapacity
- Religion – your religious beliefs or membership of a religious order prevent you from attending a polling place on polling day
- Overseas – you are an elector who is registered as an overseas elector
- Silent elector – you are an elector whose address has been suppressed
To register, complete an application form on the AEC's website.
Silent electors
You can apply to be registered as a silent elector if you believe having your address included on the publicly available electoral roll could put you or your family's safety at risk. Find out more or complete the application form on the AEC's website.
As a silent elector you can register as a postal voter to have ballot papers automatically sent to you when an election is called.
Unable to sign name due to physical incapacity
If you are unable to sign your name due to a physical incapacity, you may get someone else to complete the enrolment form and sign it on your behalf. You will also need to have a registered medical practitioner complete and sign the medical certificate on the form. Download the form or find out more information on the AEC's website.
Other categories of enrolment
Voter alerts via email or SMS are electoral reminders
Timely reminders are sent straight to your phone or email inbox for elections you can vote in.
Be scam aware. We will never ask you to enter your credit card details or make a payment through a website.
Sign up for voter alerts
Your voter alert is linked to your electoral enrolment, so you'll only get reminders for an election you're able to vote in. ECSA uses emails (when available) to also engage with first time youth voters, to support in the education of the voting process.
How to manage a voter alert
We use the personal information you give to us to maintain the register of electors and prepare electoral rolls for state and local council elections. We may use your email and mobile phone number to send you notifications and reminders for elections and other electoral events in your area. We do not share your contact details with anyone else, unless the law requires us to. There is more information about this on our Privacy page and in our privacy policy.
Protect yourself from scams
Scammers sometimes send people messages pretending to be organisations like ECSA. Here are some tips to ensure you are only reading official election information:
Check the sender
If you get an SMS from us, the sender will always be ECSA (not a number). You can not reply to these messages. If you get an email from us, the email address will be
Check the SMS content
Our messages will always be for information only. We will NEVER ask for your personal information, banking details or any kind of online payment.
Check the email link
Any links in our email message will be to access more information on our website (ecsa.sa.gov.au) only.
Check with us
If you're ever unsure if it's really us, you can call us on 1300 655 232
Return to ECSA's Mis-Dis Information
The Electoral Commission of South Australia is the official source of election information in South Australia. Our Mis-Dis Register monitors and addresses prominent pseudo-legal, false or misleading claims about electoral processes in South Australia. If you see false, fake or misleading information, let us know via
If you are on the state electoral roll you will automatically be on the council voters roll for your residence.
However, you may still be eligible to be on the council voters roll if you are:
- on the state electoral roll in South Australia and
- a non-resident sole owner (a landlord of rateable property), or non-resident occupier (tenant) within a council area
- an owner or occupier of an organisation or business
- an owner of a holiday home
- group of owners or occupiers, of a rateable property.
In accordance with section 15(5a) of the Local Government (Elections) Act 1999, council must purge the council's voters roll on 1 January of every election year. Therefore, all landlords, organisations, business owners or occupiers, must re-enrol from January 1 of every election year to be eligible to vote, with the exception of the City of Adelaide.
If you are unsure whether you are enrolled on the council voters roll, contact your local council.
Shape your world and make sure you’re enrolled.
Enrolling to the state electoral roll, or your council’s voters roll, is the first step towards participating in your council elections.
These links will take you to the external election website www.councilelections.sa.gov.au for:
Forms: Application for enrolment on the voters roll
Form 1 – To record a Natural Person: Non-Resident, Sole Owner or Sole Occupier (tenant); For a non-resident owner/occupier who owns property in the Council area; is the only owner/occupier (tenant) and does not live or occupy that property.
Form 2 – To record a Body Corporate: Sole Owner or Sole Occupier (tenant); For sole business owners or sole occupiers who occupy any type of rateable property in a council area and on the assessment record at the Council.
Form 3 – To record Group Owners or Group Occupiers (tenants); For residents whose property is jointly owned or occupied by businesses, individual persons or a combination of both.