Monday, August 29, 2011

Non-Australian Citizens ARE Eligible to Vote in the Tasmanian Local Govt Elections

PLEASE CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT

The Examiner Advertisement's text
"Council elections 2011 - General Manager’s Electoral Roll

The General Manger’s Electoral Roll for the 2011 election will close on
Thursday 15 September 2011 at 6.00pm.
The General Manager’s Electoral Roll provides eligibility to vote to:
• Residents of the Launceston municipal area who are non-Australian citizens
• Owners/ratepayers of land in the Launceston municipal area who are residents of another municipal area
• Nominees of a corporate body, which owns/occupies land within the Launceston municipal area.

Those who believe they qualify for the General Manager’s roll must complete the prescribed application form and submit it to the General Manager. These forms are available from the Council’s Customer Service Centre or can be downloaded from www.launceston.tas.gov.au
(click on Council, then Council elections).
Those who require further information to determine whether they are eligible for enrolment, please call the Council’s Corporate Secretary on 03 6323 3121."

Depending on who you talk to you may get conflicting advice about who is eligible to vote in Tasmania's upcoming Local Govt. elections. The advertisements copied here can be taken as forensic evidence that you DO NOT need to be an Australian citizen to be eligible to vote in Tasmania's Local Govt. elections. And, neither do you ALWAYS need to be a resident in a jurisdiction to be eligible to vote either – read the advertisements very carefully.

If you hear different, then check and check again as it seems that there are those who do not understand the provision and others still, for reasons of their own, who it seems may well be handing out shonky advice.

The Tasmanian Electoral Commission is the most reliable source of advice Remember check and then check again
Ideally call the TEC on 1800 801 701
OR
Check the Website www.tec.tas.gov.au


Please circulate this information

2 comments:

Hilda said...

A neighbour, an English woman, was told at the last Council elections that she was not eligible to vote because she was a renter. If she owned her house, she was told, she could vote even if she wasn't an Australian citizen.That was bad advice and it was very wrong of whoever gave it to her, to give it.AND it is happening again and all we get is obscure advertisements in newspapers. It is very sad and bad too.

Alderman Rob Soward said...

Hilda's point highlights the importance of people having the correct information and being aware of the importance of voting. The electoral commission do a really good job of promoting this I believe in their newspaper and television campaigns.I also think it is important that people also take responsibility and make themselves aware- at the last election there were loads of television, online, newspaper and even mailed out things and some people I doorknocked didnt even know there was an election or worse still told me they had already voted; having confused it with the previous Federal election!In summary people being made aware of their rights and being informed and engaged is crucial in the process- the electoral commission do a great job of this.The other point is in regards to postal ballots- it is mailed to your home, has a return envelope and easy to follow instructions- it doesnt get any simpler- you have 10days to fill it out and return it