Plan your vote. Here’s how.

Voters have traditionally visited their local school or hall on a Saturday to pick up their democracy sausage and cast a vote in a State election. Some voted early if they couldn’t make the Saturday for a particular reason, including if they were interstate, overseas or faced other accessibility challenges. With the number of people now having work, sport and other personal commitments on a Saturday, the proportion of people voting early has risen to 50%+.

Where it was previously feasible to publish a list of polling locations and wait for people to seek out this information, that’s not how people consume information in the age of social media and other new media. Voters increasingly expect information to be delivered to them directly. The current situation also doesn’t account for the varying times of the day and week when people now seek to vote, at locations near or far from home and work.

In the age of COVID-19, there’s another cohort of people who aren’t keen to congregate and queue up to cast a vote for health and distancing reasons, so will be seeking options and opportunities to vote when it’s ‘quieter’. For remote communities and nursing homes, it’s possible that electoral officials won’t be allowed to visit to take votes.

Information that voters should have access to include:
Where? – Close to work? Close to home? Close to ‘here’? Nursing home? Remote community? Interstate? Overseas?
When? – On Polling Day? At work? After work? Before the wedding?
How? – In person? By post? By telephone? Remote polling? Mobile polling?
Who? – Self? Family member? Relative?

Additional Information:

Additional links:
LG Boundaries - https://catalogue.data.wa.gov.au/dataset/local-government-authority-lga-boundaries
Localities - https://catalogue.data.wa.gov.au/dataset/localities
ABS Census Statistical Area Boundaries - https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/1270.0.55.001July%202016?OpenDocument