Political exclusion and electronic conduits to civic (re-)engagement in Australia

Abstract

This paper examines the potential for e-technologies to address the problem of political exclusion among some currently excluded groups of voters in Australia today. It canvasses known and suspected patterns of such exclusion and, in some cases, suggests likely reasons for it. Topics covered include the capacity for electronic forms of voting and registration to address: low voting and registration levels among indigenous Australians;1 declining registration levels among the young; access to the secret ballot caused by disability; informal voting among minority language speakers and people with low literacy and numeracy competence; low voting participation among people who experience difficulty in attending a polling place on election day (including the isolated and physically immobile) and low voting participation among the Australian diaspora. We begin by providing some technical background, after which we report briefly on the e-voting state of play in Australia today.