Kelly knows first-hand the barriers people in prison face when trying to vote in an election.
Recently released after being incarcerated at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Victoria, Kelly said there are numerous issues when it comes to voting, including a lack of access to information and confusion over who is able to vote.
“We can’t get information about how a party or candidate’s policies must impact prisoners,” Kelly told About Time. “Prison officers also will not provide us with any information as it is seen as political.”
Due to this lack of information, people in prison can sometimes feel “blindsided” when it comes to the voting day.
“They spring it on you one day,” she said. “If you don’t want the news, you wouldn’t know it was happening. We can’t get any information outside of the news or newspapers and so only get a limited view.
“We still have to vote or we’ll be fined, and so are forced to make a choice without information. This damages our ability to properly exercise our democratic rights.”
All people in prison on remand or with a prison sentence of less than three years are required to vote in the federal election.
But numerous barriers to enrolling and voting means that voting rates among people in prison are extremely low. For the upcoming federal election, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is looking to boost voting rates in prisons, with significantly more mobile voting booths to be available in prisons around the country, in nearly all states and territories.
Kelly knows first-hand the barriers people in prison face when trying to vote in an election.
Recently released after being incarcerated at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Victoria, Kelly said there are numerous issues when it comes to voting, including a lack of access to information and confusion over who is able to vote.
“We can’t get information about how a party or candidate’s policies must impact prisoners,” Kelly told About Time. “Prison officers also will not provide us with any information as it is seen as political.”
Due to this lack of information, people in prison can sometimes feel “blindsided” when it comes to the voting day.
“They spring it on you one day,” she said. “If you don’t want the news, you wouldn’t know it was happening. We can’t get any information outside of the news or newspapers and so only get a limited view.
“We still have to vote or we’ll be fined, and so are forced to make a choice without information. This damages our ability to properly exercise our democratic rights.”
All people in prison on remand or with a prison sentence of less than three years are required to vote in the federal election.
But numerous barriers to enrolling and voting means that voting rates among people in prison are extremely low. For the upcoming federal election, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is looking to boost voting rates in prisons, with significantly more mobile voting booths to be available in prisons around the country, in nearly all states and territories.
About Time contacted every state and territory Corrections department to request information on how information about voting and the election will be communicated to people in prison, and whether mobile polling booths would be allowed into correctional facilities.
Every jurisdiction except for New South Wales confirmed that mobile polling booths would be allowed into prisons to help people in prison vote.
The availability of these booths has been found to increase voting rates in prisons significantly.
Mobile polling booths were also not allowed in NSW prisons during the 2023 referendum on a First Nations Voice to Parliament. The NSW Inspector of Custodial Services found that this contributed to low voting rates among those in prison, and called on the state government to allow them for future elections.
The Inspector found that of the 350 people incarcerated at the Bathurst Correctional Centre who were eligible to vote in the referendum, just 10% were actually able to vote. This was despite the inspector finding that “most inmates [they] spoke with expected to vote”.
People in NSW prisons will instead have to complete a postal vote, something the inspector found “carries a higher risk that voting is subject to unexpected barriers”.
The AEC ran 49 mobile polling booths in prisons around Australia for the referendum, accounting for less than half of the more than 115 prisons in the country. It is hoping to provide “significantly” more for this election.
In Victoria, all prisons have been listed as early voting locations, and polling booths will be placed in them in the week before the election. These booths will also be in prisons in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT.
In the ACT, where there is more access to computers and technology than in other jurisdictions, people in prison will be able to access websites including the ABC, SBS, ESPN, Elections Act and Libraries Australia.
Even if voting rates are increased among eligible people in prison, an estimated 10,000 people are still completely banned from voting under the current laws.
There has been an ongoing campaign to allow all people in prison to vote, regardless of how long of a sentence they are serving. It has been recognised around the world that this helps maintain connections with the outside community and is a basic human right, as backed by the UN Human Rights Committee.
The current rules also disproportionately discriminate against First Nations people, with estimates that First Nations Australians are eight times more likely to be blocked from voting compared with non-Indigenous people.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has stated that all people who are deprived of their liberty should still enjoy all voting rights. In a submission to NSW Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) called on voting rights to be extended to all incarcerated people.
“When Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are systematically excluded from voting, it reinforces their historical and ongoing marginalisation by the authorities and undermines efforts to address the socio-economic and political inequalities they are pushed to,” the HRLC submission said.
About Time contacted every state and territory Corrections department to request information on how information about voting and the election will be communicated to people in prison, and whether mobile polling booths would be allowed into correctional facilities.
Every jurisdiction except for New South Wales confirmed that mobile polling booths would be allowed into prisons to help people in prison vote.
The availability of these booths has been found to increase voting rates in prisons significantly.
Mobile polling booths were also not allowed in NSW prisons during the 2023 referendum on a First Nations Voice to Parliament. The NSW Inspector of Custodial Services found that this contributed to low voting rates among those in prison, and called on the state government to allow them for future elections.
The Inspector found that of the 350 people incarcerated at the Bathurst Correctional Centre who were eligible to vote in the referendum, just 10% were actually able to vote. This was despite the inspector finding that “most inmates [they] spoke with expected to vote”.
People in NSW prisons will instead have to complete a postal vote, something the inspector found “carries a higher risk that voting is subject to unexpected barriers”.
The AEC ran 49 mobile polling booths in prisons around Australia for the referendum, accounting for less than half of the more than 115 prisons in the country. It is hoping to provide “significantly” more for this election.
In Victoria, all prisons have been listed as early voting locations, and polling booths will be placed in them in the week before the election. These booths will also be in prisons in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT.
In the ACT, where there is more access to computers and technology than in other jurisdictions, people in prison will be able to access websites including the ABC, SBS, ESPN, Elections Act and Libraries Australia.
Even if voting rates are increased among eligible people in prison, an estimated 10,000 people are still completely banned from voting under the current laws.
There has been an ongoing campaign to allow all people in prison to vote, regardless of how long of a sentence they are serving. It has been recognised around the world that this helps maintain connections with the outside community and is a basic human right, as backed by the UN Human Rights Committee.
The current rules also disproportionately discriminate against First Nations people, with estimates that First Nations Australians are eight times more likely to be blocked from voting compared with non-Indigenous people.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has stated that all people who are deprived of their liberty should still enjoy all voting rights. In a submission to NSW Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) called on voting rights to be extended to all incarcerated people.
“When Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are systematically excluded from voting, it reinforces their historical and ongoing marginalisation by the authorities and undermines efforts to address the socio-economic and political inequalities they are pushed to,” the HRLC submission said.
