Infringement notices will be sent this week to over 220,000 Victorians who either didn’t respond to the Victorian Electoral Commission’s (VEC’s) request for an explanation or didn’t have a valid reason for failing to vote in the 2022 State election.
Close to 300,000 Victorians were sent an ‘Apparent failure to vote notice’ by the VEC in April. Of those, almost 70,000 have been excused for valid reasons.
People who did not respond to the ‘Apparent failure to vote notice’, or who did not provide a valid and sufficient excuse, will be issued an infringement of $92.
Almost 95% of the infringement notice recipients had not responded to the ‘Apparent failure to vote notice’, which gave them an opportunity to explain why they appeared not to have voted.
People who receive an infringement notice must respond within 35 days – by either paying the fine, requesting an internal review, or electing to go to court.
Acting Electoral Commissioner Dana Fleming is urging people who receive an infringement notice to take it seriously.
‘The most important thing is that you respond to the notice before the deadline – otherwise you could be issued a penalty reminder notice, which carries the original penalty plus an additional administration fee,’ Ms Fleming said.
The VEC encourages non-voters who are unsure what to do, or require assistance throughout any stage of the infringements process, to call 1300 551 575 or visit vec.vic.gov.au/voting/fines-and-reviews
Voting in State elections is compulsory in Victoria, and to make sure no-one misses a future election, the VEC encourages all enrolled voters to sign up for VoterAlert, our free SMS and email reminder service.
The service alerted 2.4 million Victorians about key election dates in last year’s State election. To sign up visit vec.vic.gov.au/voteraler
