Barred votes

Australia's Federal Parliament has passed legislation to overturn a ban on prisoners voting and to increase the amount of time people have to enrol once an election is called.

The statute is the Electoral & Referendum Amendment (Enrolment & Prisoner Voting) Act 2010 (Cth). It reflects High Court decisions - Roach v Electoral Commissioner [2007] HCA 43 and Rowe v Electoral Commissioner [2010] HCA 46 The former overturned the Howard government's ban on prisoners voting. The latter addressed the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Electoral Integrity and Other Measures) Act 2006 (Cth), finding that the electoral rolls cannot be closed on the day writs are issued.

Prisoners serving a sentence under three years will now be able to vote. People will have seven days to enrol after election writs are issued.

The ABC quotes Special Minister of State Gary Gray as indicating that the Government respects the Court's decisions -

The amendments moved in 2006 were both unfortunate and inconsistent with both the spirit and the good governance of our electoral codes - they should not have happened.

The High Court agreed with that and the Government and the Parliament have today spoken on that matter.

The amendment reflects discussion highlighted here.