ENVELOPES marked “important postal vote information” mailed out to Kingston residents this month are an attempt by the Liberal and Labor parties to obtain personal information about voters for the parties’ databases ahead of the 2 July federal election.
Mass mailouts addressed to ‘enrolled voter/s’ in the ‘Division of Isaacs’ include a Postal Vote Application Form sent by federal Isaacs Labor MP Mark Dreyfus or Liberal candidate for Isaacs Garry Spencer.
Voters who “can’t get to a polling booth on election day” are encouraged to complete personal details on the application form and send the completed form in a supplied prepaid envelope.
The prepaid envelope is addressed to a political party PO Box so the information sent in the envelope will go to a political party first rather than directly to the Australian Electoral Commission.
The political party can then enter any information provided – including name, address, date of birth, contact details and a series of security questions including the town voters were born in and the name of the last school they attended – into its database before passing on the information to the AEC.
The Australian Greens also often send out postal vote application forms to voters in electorates where the parties have a sitting member.
The AEC has unsuccessfully tried to ban political parties harvesting voters’ personal information using the potentially misleading Postal Vote Application Form sent by MPs and major party candidates.
Political parties are exempt from privacy laws that allow people to obtain a copy of any information held about them on file.
Eligible voters who wish to vote by post before the June election can avoid passing on their details to a political party by contacting the AEC at aec.gov.au or by calling 13 23 26.
Completed forms can be sent free of charge from within Australia directly to the Australian Electoral Commission, Reply Paid 9867, Melbourne.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 18 May 2016
1 Comment
Data harvesting by political parties of voters details on postal vote applications has caused a serious security breach because those forms contain a security code. How is that legal ? It is certainly not moral or fair.