Chapter 1 - Election participants and environment


The election of South Australia’s 55th Parliament took place against the backdrop of some rather exceptional challenges. One of the main goals in the delivery of the election was to ensure electors could vote safely amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

SA Health worked closely with the Electoral Commission of South Australia (ECSA), providing modelling of potential cases per day that informed decision-making strategies designed to keep both electors and staff safe.

In addition, ECSA needed to plan delivery with regard to the possibility that the federal election could be called in the same month as the state election. This required significant contingency planning with respect to everything from advertising to identifying polling place venues and finding temporary election staff who would be available.

This election saw an upswing in the number of electors enrolled to vote; however, youth enrolment, ages 18 to 24, represented the age range that was least likely to be enrolled.

When the writs were issued, the total number of registered parties was 15, and the total number of nominations lodged decreased from 307 in 2018 to 291 in 2022. The percentage of candidates who were female was the highest recorded in South Australia.

In this chapter, topics include the electoral redistribution, legislative changes, the issue of the writs, enrolment, and nominations for both houses of Parliament. We also cover in more detail the impacts of the federal election and the challenges of delivery in a COVID environment.


In Chapter 1 - Election participants and environment...

  • Electoral redistribution
  • Legislative changes
  • Issue of the writs
  • Enrolment
  • A call for legislative change: Enrolment on the day
  • A call for legislative change: Itinerant electors
  • Party registration
  • Nominations
  • A call for legislative change: Online portal for candidate nominations
  • How-to-vote materials
  • Impact of the 2022 federal election
  • COVID-19 environment
  • A call for legislative change: Emergency powers

  • Electoral redistribution

    After every state election, South Australia’s independent Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission (EDBC) examines the boundaries of the House of Assembly electoral districts to ensure that electors continue to have effective representation as demographics change. Serving on the three-person 2020 EDBC were the Chair, the Honourable Justice Patricia Kelly (senior puisne Judge of the Supreme Court), Mr Mick Sherry (the Electoral Commissioner) and Mr Michael Burdett (the Surveyor-General).

    The EDBC published its Order on 18 November 2020 in which it altered 45 of the state’s House of Assembly districts. Boundaries were redrawn—substantially in some areas—with the goal of redistributing the population relatively equally and maintaining communities of interest to the extent possible.

    The redistribution resulted in around 92,000 electors changing electoral districts at the time of the election; no districts were renamed.

    Details about the 2020 redistribution as well as official maps of the districts were published in the 2020 Report of the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission and on the EDBC’s website (edbc.sa.gov.au). ECSA subsequently wrote to households affected by boundary changes, informing them about the changes, and EasyVote cards detailing electoral districts were sent prior to the election.

    Electors were also able to explore the boundaries and find their district on ECSA’s interactive map available on the website.

    Chapter 1 - Electoral redistribution, letter
    ABOVE: Flyer sent to households

    Chapter 1 - Electoral redistribution, map
    ABOVE: ECSA's interactive boundaries map. 2018 boundaries in blue, 2022 boundaries in red.

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    Legislative changes

    Amendments to the Electoral Act

    On 23 July 2020, the Electoral (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2020 (the Electoral Bill) was introduced to the House of Assembly, seeking amendments to the Electoral Act 1985 and a related amendment to the Local Government Act 1999.

    The Electoral Bill included 12 of the 16 recommendations included in ECSA’s 2018 State Election Report, tabled in Parliament on 28 February 2019. In addition, the Electoral Bill also sought to introduce further changes not included in the 2018 report, including the introduction of optional preferential voting for the House of Assembly and the banning of electoral banners (corflutes) from public spaces.

    On 16 March 2021, the Electoral Bill was defeated during its second reading in the Legislative Council.

    On 26 May 2021, the Electoral (Electronic Documents and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2021 (the Electoral Amendment Bill) was introduced to the House of Assembly. After debate and passage by the House, the Electoral Amendment Bill was then received in the Legislative Council on 23 September 2021. It was passed by the Legislative Council in its amended form on 18 November 2021. However, the Electoral Amendment Bill never returned to the floor of the House of Assembly and was not passed prior to the election.

    Chapter 1 - Legislative changes, amendments to the Electoral Act
    ABOVE: 2018 State Election Report

    Amendments to Part 13A (funding and disclosure) in the Electoral Act

    In July 2019, ECSA published a report into the operation and administration of funding, expenditure and disclosure legislation in South Australia. The report was tabled in Parliament on 9 September 2019 and contained 45 recommendations for changes to the legislation.

    On 9 June 2021, the Electoral (Funding, Expenditure and Disclosure) Amendment Bill 2021 (the Disclosure Bill) was introduced to Parliament, adopting some of the report's recommendations and proposing other changes.

    The Disclosure Bill passed the House of Assembly with amendments on 14 October 2021 and was presented to the Legislative Council. However, it lapsed on the floor of the Legislative Council when the 54th Parliament was prorogued for the election.

    A further review of the operation and administration of the funding and disclosure legislation will be undertaken following the state election and the Bragg by-election.

    The recommendations made in the 2019 report will be reviewed, and additional recommendations will be made where necessary.

    Chapter 1 - Legislative changes, amendments to funding and disclosure
    ABOVE: Report reviewing the operation and administration of funding, expenditure and disclosure legislation

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    Issue of the writs

    The trigger for a state election is the issue of the writs, which occurs 28 days before polling day. On Saturday 19 February 2022, the Governor of South Australia, Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC, proclaimed the prorogation of Parliament and the dissolution of the House of Assembly and issued writs for the state election to the Electoral Commissioner.

    One writ was issued for the election of the 47 Members of the House of Assembly and another for the election of 11 Members of the Legislative Council.

    The writs set out the timetable for the election and provided the Electoral Commissioner with 74 days to successfully complete the elections before the writs were returned to the Governor.

    Chapter 1 - Issue of the writs, House of Assembly and Legislative Council
    ABOVE: 2022 writ for the House of Assembly (left) and 2022 writ for the Legislative Council (right)

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    Enrolment

    At the close of the electoral roll on Friday 25 February 2022, there were 1,266,719 eligible electors registered to vote, a significant increase of 5.4% from the 2018 election and the largest ever roll for a South Australian election. This increase reflects population growth, the effects of the Federal Direct Enrolment and Update (FDEU) program, and the enrolment campaign undertaken by ECSA. The average number of electors per House of Assembly electoral district was 26,951, with the highest number of electors in Kaurna (28,845) and the lowest in Giles (24,966).

    South Australians responded positively to ECSA’s calls for enrolment with a total of 15,886 new enrolments, 1,433 re-enrolments, and 62,515 change of address or name transactions performed from the start of February up until the roll closed at 5 pm on Friday 25 February 2022.

    The following table shows the number of electors enrolled by age group. As indicated in the table, 12.2% of eligible people aged 18–24 years were not on the roll for the election, which is a significantly higher proportion of unenrolled electors compared to other age groups.

    Electors enrolled by age group:

    Chapter 1 - TABLE: Electors enrolled by age group

  • - Numbers enrolled as at 25 February 2022 (including provisional electors turning 18 by polling day 19 March 2022)
  • - Voting eligible population percentages are calculated using AEC estimates as at 31 March 2022 based on ABS estimated eligible population data adjusted for British Subjects, those of unsound mind, overseas electors, new citizens and growth estimates.
  • * Enrolment rates above 99.0% are not reported due to error associated with calculating estimated eligible population which may overstate the actual enrolment rate.


  • It is estimated that in March 2022, there were 28,354 potential electors across all age groups who were not enrolled.

    ECSA will continue to focus on improving enrolment levels among young people, citizens from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds and First Nations peoples, including those living in the APY Lands and other remote communities.

    In addition to the regular FDEU undertaken by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), ECSA plans to look for opportunities to further enhance its enrolment strategy ahead of the next state election. This will support a comprehensive enrolment drive in collaboration with the AEC, which includes targeted engagement activities for underrepresented sectors of the population such as young people, CALD groups, and First Nations peoples.

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    A CALL FOR LEGISLATIVE CHANGE

    Enrolment on the day

    The low rate of enrolment of younger electors and the increasing number of non-voters are a matter of concern that is not isolated to South Australia. Indeed, there has been longstanding unease about both trends among electoral commissions and commentators in Australia, New Zealand, and further afield.

    One of the solutions to address falling participation rates successfully implemented by ECSA’s counterparts in New South Wales (NSW), New Zealand (NZ), the Northern Territory (NT), Queensland, and Victoria (as well as most Canadian jurisdictions) has been to allow people to enrol after the close of the electoral roll. Although the commissions of these jurisdictions continue to have (and advertise) a close of roll, they allow enrolment on the day as a ‘savings provision’ to enfranchise people who inadvertently miss the deadline. This helps avoid the situation at each election where hundreds of people turn up to polling booths and are told they are not on the roll and cannot vote.

    ECSA recorded 733 electors who attended a polling place at the 2022 State Election and walked away when told they were not on the roll. Records were also kept of people in this situation who, despite not being found on the roll, insisted on casting a vote, claiming there must have been a roll error. Of the 10,514 people who did so in 2022 (up from 7,318 in 2018), just 1,065 (10.1%) had their House of Assembly vote counted and 2,422 (23.0%) had their Legislative Council vote counted after investigation of their enrolment.

    New South Wales (since 2009) allows enrolment and enrolment updates during both the early voting period and on polling day itself. Queensland (since 2017) allows enrolment and enrolment updates within the same electoral district during the early voting period but not on polling day itself. Victoria (since 2010) and the Northern Territory (since 2019) permit new enrolments up to and including polling day. Since 2019, New Zealand had allowed enrolment and enrolment updates during the early voting period but not on polling day itself, but a legislative change in 2020 extended this process to polling day as well.

    All the electoral commissions with enrolment up to and on polling day considered it a success. In Victoria, the number of voters who have made use of this provision at the past 3 state elections has averaged around 40,500 at each election. At the NZ 2020 General Election, around 90,000 voters enrolled and voted during the early voting period, and 80,000 on polling day. At the 2020 Territory Election, 1,741 votes from previously unenrolled electors were admitted to the count as a result of enrolment up to and including polling day.

    Given the success of late enrolment options elsewhere in Australasia, ECSA seeks legislative change to bring South Australia into line with other jurisdictions and allow eligible potential new electors to enrol up to and on polling day. Although ECSA would continue to actively promote the close of roll, enrolment on the day would be a savings provision to help ensure that as many South Australians as possible can participate in state elections.

    ECSA notes that, at the time of publication of this report, enrolment on the day seems likely to be implemented for federal elections.

    In January 2023, the Australian Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) recommended that the Australian Government ‘should give serious consideration to... providing for secure 'on the day' enrolment, enabling a potential new voter to cast a declaration vote that is admitted to the count once their enrolment is approved and processed.’

    This recommendation was supported by the AEC, which had submitted to JSCEM that it ‘may wish to consider legislation to permit enrolment on the day to maximise enfranchisement for Australians attempting to cast a vote’.

    Under joint roll arrangements, the AEC processes all South Australian enrolment transactions. The AEC has advised that due to limited time and resources in the election period, only new enrolments can be processed, not enrolment updates.


    Recommendation 1.

    That the Electoral Act be amended to enable eligible potential new electors to enrol up to and on polling day. After claiming enrolment, these electors would be allowed to cast a declaration vote, which would not be admitted to the count until an enrolment investigation had been satisfactorily completed in the week after polling day.

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    A CALL FOR LEGISLATIVE CHANGE

    Itinerant electors

    There is broad consensus in Australia that the lack of a permanent residential address should not disenfranchise people from voting. All Australian jurisdictions, including South Australia, provide a special category of enrolment for people who do not have a fixed address. Broadly speaking, 2 categories of citizens are covered by the ‘itinerant electors’ enrolment category: people experiencing homelessness and people who are long-term travellers within Australia who do not have a permanent address to return to (some of whom are referred to colloquially as ‘grey nomads’).

    Before the state elections in 2018 and 2022, ECSA’s stakeholder partners from the homeless sector raised concerns during consultation that by encouraging their clients to enrol as itinerant electors and participate in the election, they could be setting them up for failure.

    Concern centres on the fact that under the Electoral Act, while enrolment is not compulsory for itinerant electors, voting is. If a homeless person takes the positive step of enrolling as an itinerant elector, and then, for whatever reason, does not vote at an election, they will be issued with a failure to vote notice, which they are unlikely to receive given their lack of a fixed address. A failure to respond will then become a fine, which left unpaid, leads to accumulated late payment fees and potential court action. As stakeholders pointed out, far from connecting homeless people with the democratic process, the current system is likely to exacerbate the fears and suspicion that many hold towards government.

    To resolve this issue and remove the barriers to electoral participation by itinerant people, other jurisdictions, including the Commonwealth, NSW, and Victoria, have amended their legislation to exempt itinerant electors from compulsory voting. This allows electoral commissions in these jurisdictions to encourage itinerant people to enrol and vote without fear of consequences if they fail to do so.

    ECSA recommends legislative change to harmonise South Australia’s legislation with the Commonwealth and exempt itinerant electors from the obligation to vote at state elections. This requires Parliament to add itinerant electors to section 85(8) of the Electoral Act.

    ECSA also seeks legislative changes to section 31A(10) of the Electoral Act so that itinerant electors who fail to vote at a state election or who remain outside the state for a period of more than one month are not stripped of itinerant status and removed from the electoral roll. Both provisions are inconsistent with the Commonwealth legislation, which leads to a situation whereby South Australians who enrol as itinerant electors and then do not vote or go travelling are removed from the roll for state elections but continue to be enrolled for federal elections. This is another case where harmonisation with the Commonwealth would be beneficial. This provision is important for grey nomads and other non-overseas travellers, who are currently unable to remain on the state roll if they leave the state for more than one month.


    Recommendation 2.

    That the Electoral Act be amended so that itinerant electors are exempted from the obligation to vote at state elections.


    Recommendation 3.

    That the Electoral Act be amended to avoid inconsistency with the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, so that itinerant electors who fail to vote at a state election, or who remain outside South Australia for a continuous period of more than one month, continue to be entitled to be enrolled as itinerant electors.

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    Party registration

    The cut-off date for lodging an application to register a political party for the 2022 State Election was 17 September 2021. ECSA published reminders about the deadline on its website and social media.

    Several participants applied for registration in the lead-up to the election, with 11 applications for new party registration processed (not all of which progressed to registration approval).

    In January and February 2022, ECSA responded to 2 separate applications commenced by parties in the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT), seeking to object to decisions taken by the Electoral Commissioner in relation to party registration. Both matters related to the registration of the name ‘Family First’. On both occasions, SACAT upheld the determination of the Electoral Commissioner in relation to the registration of this party name.

    By the time the writs were issued on Saturday 19 February 2022, an additional 7 political parties were registered, resulting in a total of 15 registered parties overall. A total of 14 registered parties contested the election, compared to 12 in 2018.

    A full list of registered political parties can be found in the table below.

    Registered political parties at the 2022 State Election:

    Chapter 1 - TABLE: Registered political parties at the 2022 State Election

  • * Did not contest the 2022 State Election.

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    Nominations

    The nomination period opened on Monday 21 February 2022 and closed at 12 noon on Monday 28 February 2022. Candidates endorsed by political parties were required to submit their nominations by 5 pm on Friday 25 February.

    On 28 February and 1 March, ECSA conducted the declaration of candidates and the draw for position of names on ballot papers for each House of Assembly district and the Legislative Council respectively.

    At the close of nominations, a total of 291 nominations were received, 16 fewer than in 2018. There were 240 candidates for the 47 House of Assembly districts, down from 264 in 2018, an average of 5.1 candidates per district. A total of 51 candidates nominated to contest the 11 vacancies in the Legislative Council, compared with 43 in 2018. Across all elections, 261 candidates were endorsed by registered political parties, and 30 candidates stood as independents.

    Of the candidates nominated, 60.5% were male and 39.2% were female, with one candidate self-identifying as ‘other’. The number of female candidates nominating in 2022 was the highest since 2002, and as a percentage of total nominations, at 39.2%, it was the highest rate of female participation recorded at a South Australian state election.

    In late January 2022, ECSA hosted several in-person and interactive online briefing sessions for registered parties and prospective candidates. These sessions provided information about legislation and key dates, the nomination process, complaints, voting services, and the scrutiny and count.

    Candidates by gender, 2002-2022:

    Chapter 1 - TABLE: Candidates by gender, 2002-2022

  • * Since the 2018 State Election, nomination forms include the option for candidates to self-identify as other.

  • FAST FACTS

    Chapter 1 - Nominations, fast facts

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    A CALL FOR LEGISLATIVE CHANGE

    Online portal for candidate nominations

    The lodging and checking processes for nominations, how-to-vote (HTV) cards, and voting tickets for the election were, once again, labour intensive for candidates, political parties, and ECSA staff. The processing of nominations and other lodged election materials within tight legislative deadlines can be one of the most challenging parts of a state election.

    Over the past 25 years, despite advances in technology, there has been little substantive change to the manner in which nominations, HTV cards, and voting tickets may be lodged. The process continues to involve the lodgement of paper forms, followed by manual data entry and multiple rounds of checking by senior ECSA staff. Feedback from candidates and registered officers, repeated now at multiple state elections and by-elections, has included calls for a more modern method for lodgement.

    Technology offers the ability to significantly reduce the time and resources required for processing nominations, HTV cards, voting tickets, and other candidate-related information currently collected in paper form. It can also allow for electronic lodgement of forms to enhance accuracy and streamline quality assurance practices.

    ECSA repeats the call it made in its 2018 State Election Report for legislative support for a comprehensive candidate portal on the ECSA website containing all the tools that candidates and political parties need to complete and lodge their nominations correctly. Within the candidate portal, each candidate's or party’s approved nomination data can then be used to automatically populate the fields of HTV cards and voting tickets, thereby reducing the margin for error. Candidates and parties will be able to arrange their preferences and then download a version to provide to their graphic designers that fully complies with the regulations. Once prepared, the final HTV cards would be uploaded to the portal for checking and lodgement, avoiding issues that some parties have experienced with version control and email lodgement, ultimately leading to their HTV cards being rejected.


    Recommendation 4.

    That the Electoral Act be amended to prescribe a method for the electronic lodgement of nominations, voting tickets, and HTV cards to enable more accurate, timely, and robust mechanisms that assist and support parties and candidates with meeting legislative obligations.

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    How-to-vote materials

    Across Australia, except for Tasmania and the ACT, HTV material is distributed outside polling places by volunteers representing candidates and parties. South Australia is unique in having House of Assembly HTV cards displayed on a poster in a voting compartment.

    Each type of HTV card is governed by a convoluted, and sometimes confusing and contradictory set of requirements set out in different sections of the Electoral Act and Regulations. Surveys of candidates and feedback from political parties indicate that many have difficulty understanding these rules and requirements, which leads to errors, delays, and contention—and ECSA staff needing to spend considerable time providing guidance.

    ECSA agrees that the prescriptive rules for preparing HTV cards need to be reviewed and simplified with a view to streamlining the process and avoiding confusion and differences of interpretation. The rules also need to be updated to consider matters covered by other jurisdictions, such as material in other languages.

    ECSA plans to undertake a comprehensive review of the rules and requirements for HTV material in 2023. This will include consultation with the registered officers of the political parties to understand the issues they experience, along with the electoral commissions of other jurisdictions to see what practices could be adopted in South Australia. It is anticipated that this review will be finalised later in 2023, with any recommendations for legislative change brought to the attention of Parliament.


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    Impact of the 2022 federal election

    Unlike the state election, which has a fixed date, the date of a federal election is determined by the prime minister. The federal election to elect members to the 47th Parliament of Australia could have been held at any time until May 2022.

    The timing of the federal election presented some significant challenges, particularly if it had been called near the March state election.

    The Constitution Act 1934 provides that the Governor may defer the day of the state election for a period not exceeding 21 days if a federal election is called in the same month.

    This issue is further compounded by the fact that the minimum period between the prime minister requesting the election and the election date is 33 days.

    ECSA therefore had to take into consideration the possibility that the date of the state election could be changed at short notice.

    This situation presented significant challenges as contingencies were required to rebook over 700 premises, reallocate over 6,000 electoral officers, and develop a comprehensive advertising campaign to inform electors of the change of date. Significant resources were required to develop these, and additional funds were obtained.

    ECSA continued to plan and develop contingencies up until the date when it was evident that a federal election would not be called for March.

    On Sunday 10 April 2022, the Prime Minister announced that the federal election was to be held on 21 May 2022.


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    COVID-19 environment

    The state election was held at one of the peaks of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, significant restrictions were in place, including quarantine and isolation requirements for people who were positive for COVID, had symptoms, or were close contacts.

    The Electoral Act did not provide for voting services for electors in COVID isolation or quarantine. It was estimated that tens of thousands of eligible electors were subject to COVID isolation or quarantine and therefore unable to vote.

    The Electoral (Electronic Documents and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2021 (Electoral Amendment Bill) that Parliament was considering in 2021 included provisions for telephone-assisted voting for COVID-affected electors. However, in December 2021, Parliament adjourned for the year without passing the Electoral Amendment Bill, which left no provisions for the tens of thousands of electors subject to COVID isolation or quarantine to vote.

    In response to this situation, ECSA first requested that the government make a regulation to allow electors in COVID isolation or quarantine to vote by post. Although this regulation was made, the rules in place at the time did not permit COVID-affected electors to leave home to post their ballot papers. Another voting option was also required for COVID-affected electors who entered isolation or quarantine after the deadline to apply for a postal vote.

    In partnership with the South Australia Police (SAPOL), the South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission (SAFECOM), and SA Health, a strategy was developed for COVID-affected electors in isolation or quarantine to attend one of 22 established rapid antigen test (RAT) collection sites across the state to collect their ballot papers, complete their vote at home, and then return their ballots by post.

    Under the Emergency Management Act 2004, a direction was issued authorising COVID-affected electors to leave their homes for the purpose of collecting ballot papers from a RAT collection site and posting completed ballots in a mailbox.

    During the election, numerous people were subject to isolation at medi-hotels. For these electors, ballot material was delivered directly to their respective hotels and collected once the votes were completed.

    Despite the Electoral Act not providing voting options for electors subject to isolation or quarantine requirements, voting services were provided for COVID-affected electors irrespective of their circumstances. Without these options, tens of thousands of eligible South Australians in COVID isolation would not have had an opportunity to vote. These strategies would not have been possible without the assistance of SAPOL, SAFECOM, SA Health, and the directions made under the Emergency Management Act.

    A further challenge presented by the COVID-19 pandemic was to ensure the safety of electors and electoral officers in polling booths. A COVID management plan was implemented, which included dedicated hygiene officers at every polling place, social distancing, single-use pencils, and a requirement for electoral officers to be fully vaccinated and wear masks.

    These measures proved to be effective, with ECSA’s post-election survey of electors indicating 92% of respondents were satisfied with ECSA’s COVID protocols. However, the social distancing requirements meant fewer people could be present inside a polling place, which caused queuing issues outside several locations.

    Further information regarding these COVID-19 strategies is detailed later in this report.


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    A CALL FOR LEGISLATIVE CHANGE

    Emergency powers

    The COVID-19 pandemic has been a reminder on a global scale of the importance of preparedness for emergencies. As it prepared to deliver a pandemic election, ECSA was, like its counterparts in most Australian jurisdictions, extremely restricted in what it could do to adapt to meet the challenges posed by COVID-19.

    Many of the logical measures that ECSA might have taken to extend safe and effective voting services to electors affected by the pandemic were proscribed by legislation. This left ECSA, like electoral administrators in most parts of the world, scrambling to determine how to deliver the election legally, legitimately, and safely.

    The legislation as it currently stands is extremely prescriptive about how voting services must be delivered and who is entitled to access them. It also prescribes strict timeframes and processes for other parts of the electoral process that leave no room for adaptation. But the Electoral Act is almost completely silent about what can be done in emergency situations, and its excessive prescriptiveness offers ECSA almost no flexibility to respond to localised or statewide contingencies.

    The Electoral Act contains only 2 very limited provisions that can be used in emergency situations. Firstly, the entire election may be deferred by up to 21 days by the authority that issued the writ (section 49). Secondly, the Electoral Commissioner may adjourn polling at a polling booth on polling day for up to 21 days, if for any reason, it is not practicable to proceed (section 88). But the Electoral Act has no provisions to adjourn or postpone any other voting service or to extend any alternative voting services to electors affected by an emergency. So, for example, while it permits ECSA to adjourn in-person voting at determined polling booths for 21 days, it prevents ECSA from being able to send postal voting packs to all electors affected by an emergency or to extend the deadline for the return of postal votes.

    In an emergency, whatever the crisis that arises, ECSA needs to be prepared to deliver safe and credible elections. This means doing robust contingency planning and having the skills and resources to be able to take the appropriate actions.

    But just as importantly, it means having a legal mandate to efficiently operate under and the ability to provide special voting arrangements where necessary. ECSA does not currently have that legal mandate.

    ECSA recommends legislative change to allow the Electoral Commissioner to make necessary, reasonable, and proportionate adjustments to procedural aspects of the electoral process in declared emergency situations. In 2022, ECSA relied on the powers granted to the State Coordinator to allow it to offer the special COVID-19 voting service. In the past, ECSA assumed it could rely on regulations to change the rules if an emergency arose. However, any changes to regulations during the lead-up to an election can give rise to concerns about fairness. It is not ideal for the electoral rules to be changed unilaterally by any one party during the period after the writs have been issued, the Parliament has been prorogued, and the government has gone into caretaker mode.

    ECSA seeks legislative change to allow the independent Electoral Commissioner the flexibility to determine how certain electoral processes and activities may be undertaken when they are impacted by an emergency. Specific modifications include the ability to:

  • extend the eligibility criteria for affected electors to vote by post, by telephone, by mobile polling (if ECSA’s recommended changes to mobile polling are approved), or early voting (if early voting eligibility criteria remain in place)
  • adjourn polling at early voting centres (EVC)
  • extend polling hours
  • streamline the requirements for postal applications and postal declarations
  • extend the date for postal returns.

  • Recommendation 5.

    That the Electoral Act be amended to grant the Electoral Commissioner greater authority and flexibility to determine how certain voting processes and activities may be undertaken when an emergency declaration is in force. Specific changes are sought to allow the Commissioner to extend access to voting services to affected electors.

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    Disclaimer

    Copyright © Electoral Commission of South Australia. Published 2023. All rights reserved.

    No part of this report may be reproduced by any process, except in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968

    Printed copies of this document are available from: Electoral Commission of South Australia
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