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Australian Electoral Commission
16 August 2010
Australian voters are being urged to take the time to fill their ballot papers in correctly to ensure their vote counts in the 2010 federal election, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) advised today.
Electoral Commissioner, Ed Killesteyn said people will be voting in both a House of Representatives election and a Senate election on Saturday 21 August 2010 and will be given two ballot papers at the polling place.
"I urge voters to pay careful attention when filling in each ballot paper, and instructions are on the top of each ballot paper. If you do however make a mistake, please ask a polling official for another ballot paper to start again," he said.
On the green House of Representatives ballot paper, voters must number every box in the order of their preference, until they have numbered all the boxes. Do not use ticks, crosses, repeat any number or leave boxes blank on this ballot paper.
On the white Senate ballot paper, voters have the choice to either mark one box above the line with a '1' for the party or group of their choice, or number every box below the line for each candidate in order of preference.
Who voters choose to vote for is their decision, and voters may or may not decide to follow the how-to-vote cards that candidate representatives give them outside the polling place.
Polling places will be open from 8am until 6pm on election day, and voters can find their local polling place using the polling place locator, or by calling 13 23 26. A list of polling places with disabled access is also available.
On election day, polling officials and translated information will be available to assist electors at all polling places, and at some locations polling officials who speak another language will be available and will be wearing a special badge identifying which language it is that they speak.
Mr Killesteyn said that the AEC was also running a national advertising campaign on television, in newspapers and online to encourage voters to take care when voting.
For more information about voting locations in the 2010 federal election, visit the 'Where can I vote?' page or call 13 23 26. Comprehensive lists of polling places will also be advertised in major metropolitan newspapers by the AEC on Friday 20 August.
| State | AEC contact | Contact details |
|---|---|---|
| NATIONAL | Phil Diak | Phone: (02) 6271 4415 Mobile: 0413 452 539 |
| NSW | Keith Eaton | Ph. (02) 9375 6312 (w) Mob. 0412 269 720 |
| VIC | Maureen Green | Ph. (03) 9285 7113 (w) Mob. 0434 326 328 |
| QLD | Caroline D'Allura | Ph. (07) 3834 3428 (w) Mob. 0400 270 660 |
| WA | Brendon Barlow | Ph. 08 6363 8026 (w) Mob. 0413 271 869 |
| SA | Paul Langtry | Ph. (08) 8237 6582 (w) Mob. 0413 452 532 |
| TAS | Sandra Riordan | Ph. (03) 6235 0501 (w) Mob. 0438 425 730 |
| NT | Robert Pugsley | Ph. (08) 8982 8001 (w) Mob. 0418 253 357 |
| ACT | Bernadette O'Meara | Ph. (02) 6271 4724 (w) |
The AEC acknowledges the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters, culture and community. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.