April 14, 2025 • 12 mins
Sam chats with Alex Morris from the Australian Electoral Commission in the lead up to the Australian federal election, taking place on May 3.
Alex tells us about all the measures the AEC is putting in place to make voting accessible, safe and confidential for all voters with disabilities.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:04):
With the Australian federal election coming up in just under
a month's time, the safety, accessibility and privacy of the
votes of the blind and low vision community is, of course,
paramount to not only the Australian Electoral Commission, but also
blindness and low vision organisations around Australia. So with that
(00:30):
in mind, it's my great pleasure to welcome today Alex
Morris from the Australian Electoral Commission to talk to us
about the accessibility measures in place for voters with disabilities. Alex,
welcome to Talking Vision. Thank you very much for your
time today.
S2 (00:51):
Thank you for having me, Sam. It's a pleasure.
S1 (00:53):
Now, firstly, Alex, I think let's get to the heart
of the matter. As people may or no doubt be aware,
the election is coming up in a few weeks. And
for our listeners who are blind or have low vision,
they might have a little bit of anxiety or, you know,
trepidation about, oh, how is my how am I going
(01:15):
to get an accessible vote? You know, what sort of
measures are in place for me? So just to put
their minds at rest, so to speak. What sort of
accessibility measures can the AEC promise for voters who are
blind or have low vision?
S2 (01:32):
Of course. And first of all, I completely understand where
those listeners would be coming from. It's, uh, it's something
that we've worked really, really hard at, uh, at the
AEC for quite some time now, and I'm really hopeful
that this is going to be, uh, good news for
a lot of your listeners. So first and foremost, uh,
we do have a telephone voting option available for voters
(01:54):
who are blind or have low vision. It's the same
telephone voting option that was previously made available at the
last federal election for voters who had tested positive for
Covid as well. But thankfully, the Covid conditions have changed
somewhat and we're no longer in a position of needing
to do that, which means the service is now just
for blind and low vision voters, as well as people
(02:15):
in in Antarctica, those brave explorers down there now. It's
a service that hasn't started yet. At the time of recording,
but will be opening for registration on Tuesday the 22nd
of April.
S1 (02:28):
Okay, that's great news. Now, what is that number for
people out there and how do people sign up?
S2 (02:36):
So from Tuesday the 22nd, which is the same day
that early voting opens across the country, you will be
able to call a number. It's A18 hundred number. That's 1800 913 993.
Once again that's 1800 913 993. You can call that number between
830 and 530 every weekday except for public holidays. And
(02:59):
that's important because Anzac Day is a public holiday this year.
And we will register you for a telephone vote.
S1 (03:06):
Okay. Fantastic. Now, Alex, what's the process for people who've
signed up to the telephone voting, they've rung up to
cast their vote. What's the sort of steps that they
can expect now?
S2 (03:22):
The telephone vote itself for people that haven't done it before?
It's a two stage process, and it's in two stages
to preserve the privacy of your ballot. Of course, Australia
invented the secret ballot, and we wouldn't be doing our
jobs if we just took that away for people who
were blind or had low vision. So it's a two
call setup. So first and foremost, you give us a
(03:43):
call after you've registered. We verify your identity and check
you off the electoral roll. We then provide an anonymous code.
So you then call a second number and provide that
code without providing your name. And someone on the phone
will take your vote and walk you through the ballot paper.
Of course, in a completely anonymous way. So the privacy
(04:04):
of your vote is absolutely guaranteed through this process, which
is a really, really important part of the process. Now,
with that said, telephone voting is not the only thing
that we're doing to make voting accessible, and there are
a range of measures that we're going to have in
place at polling places as well, including some that we
have collaborated with through Vision Australia. We're looking at working
(04:25):
with Vision Australia to develop and distribute accessible information about
voting all the way through this election period.
S1 (04:32):
I'm very keen to hear about those. I mean, telephone
voting is fantastic, but people, when they do feel like
they would like to, you know, show up to the
polling place in person and cast their votes that way,
and they might have some mobility issues, or they may
have issues with different surfaces with their cane or their
(04:53):
seeing eye dog, and they might have to deal with
those sort of things. Or, you know, how do they
fill out their vote in person? So I'm very keen
to get those details as well, Alex.
S2 (05:05):
Absolutely. So the most important thing I will say is
when the AEC publishes information about the locations of all
of the polling places, which will be in a couple
of weeks time. On our polling place finder tool, you'll
be able to find information about accessibility options that are
available at the polling place. These will be including things about,
you know, whether a polling place is fully wheelchair accessible. Now,
(05:28):
if you're working with a cane or if you're working
with a guide dog, you might want to avoid stairs
as well. So that is something that you can definitely
monitor and choose a polling place or even a pre-poll
voting place as well based on those criteria. We'll also
have information about some of the accessibility options that we
have in place, particularly for people who are blind or
have low vision.
S1 (05:49):
And Alex, it's not just people who are blind or
have low vision that the AEC is looking to make
things more accessible for. Of course, you've got quite a
few resources for voters who are deaf or hard of hearing,
isn't that right?
S2 (06:05):
Of course, we have hearing loops in place in selected
polling places. That's a technology that's been around for some
time now. We're continuing to roll it out, and information
about where those hearing loops will be available will be
available on our website. It's not every polling place, of course,
because with polling places we're booking out things like school
gymnasiums and church halls. Some of them just don't have
(06:25):
the technology in place to offer that. But where we can,
we do. And that information is on our website.
S1 (06:30):
And Alex, there's some other technology for voters who are
blind or have low vision. On top of the telephone voting,
there's some digital technology available at some polling places for
voters who do show up to the polling place.
S2 (06:49):
The other really important technology that we're offering in some
polling places. So again, check the polling place finder to
work out which polling places you can find this technology at.
Text to speech pens. Again, this is something that you
might have used at previous elections. It's a great technology
for the people that need it. And you can find
all of that information on our website.
S1 (07:09):
And if all else fails, Alex, of course, there's the
traditional methods of getting assistance at the polling place. So
tell our listeners a little bit about how they go
about that and potentially call ahead of time to let
the polling place know that they might just need a
little bit of extra help.
S2 (07:29):
Now, the other thing that is available at any polling
place in Australia is, of course, the old favourite of
putting your hand up and asking for assistance. You can
if you have a friend with you, you can ask
your friend for assistance with casting your vote. You can also,
if you prefer, not to, you know, share your your
vote with with a friend or or you'd prefer to
to keep that a bit more anonymous, you can talk
(07:51):
to an AEC staff member directly and we can help
you out with that process. We're not going to tell
you how to vote. Of course, that's not our role
and that's not something that we do. But we will
walk you through. Who's on the ballot paper. Where would
you like to allocate your first preference, your second preference, etc., etc.?
That is something we can do if you're in a
circumstance where you have there are some more serious accessibility
(08:12):
limitations and you're not even able to get out of
your car to get into a polling place, we can
actually bring ballot papers out to you as well. Just
flag that with our staff When you get to a
polling place, or if you'd like more information about that
as well, you can give us a call on one three,
two three, two six and we can talk you through
the best way to approach that situation as well.
S1 (08:32):
And for voters who are deaf or hard of hearing. Alex,
there's more options for them as well if they head
along to certain polling places. Tell us a bit about that.
S2 (08:44):
Of course, the most important one as well. One of
the options that is new at this election, I believe,
or is being rolled out more at this election and
is something that we're really, really proud of, is a
virtual Auslan interpreter service that we're actually offering in collaboration
with Convo Australia. So when you get to a polling place,
there'll be a QR code that you can actually scan
with your phone, and that will give you access to
(09:06):
a virtual Auslan interpreter that you can then use while
you're talking to our staff. And that will walk you
through the entire voting process as well. So a really,
really important accessibility measure and something that I hope people
are okay.
S1 (09:21):
That is fantastic news for, you know, both the blind
and low vision and deaf and hard of hearing communities. Now, Alex,
let's get all of those contact details, all those websites,
all those emails, all those phone numbers for all of
our listeners out there. So that's, you know, how to
sign up for telephone voting or visit some websites or
(09:46):
emails to find out about that, how to find out
about the accessibility measures at polling places or any general
information they might be interested in. What are some first
call go to places for people to contact the Aacn
find out more.
S2 (10:04):
Uh, of course the repository of all wisdom is AEC.
That is our website. It has been updated for the
election and will continue to be updated as as the
election continues and we roll out the locations of polling places,
we'll also have information up about the names and the
ballot paper position of candidates. Once we've done the draw
for ballot paper position that's happening next Friday. So look
(10:27):
out for that. And we have information available specifically about
the accessibility options available to voters at Arc-gurren. Accessibility. You
can visit that page at any point during the period
and give us a call on 132326. And our staff
can help you out with the answers to the questions
that you have. But the other thing that you can
(10:48):
do is that you can contact the AEC through the
National Relay Service. Now we have information about how to
do that on our website, but the National Relay Service
have been a partner for us for some time. We're
really happy to be working with them again at this election,
and they are a great resource to get you some
more accessible information and to contact us in a more
accessible way. If you're on social media, you're also welcome
(11:11):
to reach out to us, either in a public tag
or just by sending us a DM. We are active
on Facebook, we are active on Instagram. We are active
on threads. You can find us on TikTok for the
first time. Uh, we're also on the site formerly known
as Twitter, now known as X, and you can even
find us on LinkedIn if you're feeling a little bit
more professionally minded, but you're welcome to reach out to
(11:32):
us via a DM or a tag on those platforms.
We'll be happy to answer your questions there as well.
S1 (11:37):
Oh wow, that's certainly covered all bases there. Thank you
so much, Alex. I've been speaking today with Alex Morris
from the Australian Electoral Commission here to chat to me
about the range of accessibility measures for voters who are
blind or have low vision, or are otherwise voters with
(11:58):
disabilities heading to polling places or signing up for telephone
voting in the lead up to the Australian federal election
in May. Alex, thank you so much for your time today.
It was great to catch up with you and hear
about all the ways that the AEC is making voting
(12:19):
accessible for all voters in Australia with disabilities.
S2 (12:24):
It's been my pleasure, Sam. Have a lovely election and
I look forward to seeing you at a polling place.
With the Australian federal election coming up in just under
a month's time, the safety, accessibility and privacy of the
votes of the blind and low vision community is, of course,
paramount to not only the Australian Electoral Commission, but also
blindness and low vision organisations around Australia. So with that
(00:30):
in mind, it's my great pleasure to welcome today Alex
Morris from the Australian Electoral Commission to talk to us
about the accessibility measures in place for voters with disabilities. Alex,
welcome to Talking Vision. Thank you very much for your
time today.
S2 (00:51):
Thank you for having me, Sam. It's a pleasure.
S1 (00:53):
Now, firstly, Alex, I think let's get to the heart
of the matter. As people may or no doubt be aware,
the election is coming up in a few weeks. And
for our listeners who are blind or have low vision,
they might have a little bit of anxiety or, you know,
trepidation about, oh, how is my how am I going
(01:15):
to get an accessible vote? You know, what sort of
measures are in place for me? So just to put
their minds at rest, so to speak. What sort of
accessibility measures can the AEC promise for voters who are
blind or have low vision?
S2 (01:32):
Of course. And first of all, I completely understand where
those listeners would be coming from. It's, uh, it's something
that we've worked really, really hard at, uh, at the
AEC for quite some time now, and I'm really hopeful
that this is going to be, uh, good news for
a lot of your listeners. So first and foremost, uh,
we do have a telephone voting option available for voters
(01:54):
who are blind or have low vision. It's the same
telephone voting option that was previously made available at the
last federal election for voters who had tested positive for
Covid as well. But thankfully, the Covid conditions have changed
somewhat and we're no longer in a position of needing
to do that, which means the service is now just
for blind and low vision voters, as well as people
(02:15):
in in Antarctica, those brave explorers down there now. It's
a service that hasn't started yet. At the time of recording,
but will be opening for registration on Tuesday the 22nd
of April.
S1 (02:28):
Okay, that's great news. Now, what is that number for
people out there and how do people sign up?
S2 (02:36):
So from Tuesday the 22nd, which is the same day
that early voting opens across the country, you will be
able to call a number. It's A18 hundred number. That's 1800 913 993.
Once again that's 1800 913 993. You can call that number between
830 and 530 every weekday except for public holidays. And
(02:59):
that's important because Anzac Day is a public holiday this year.
And we will register you for a telephone vote.
S1 (03:06):
Okay. Fantastic. Now, Alex, what's the process for people who've
signed up to the telephone voting, they've rung up to
cast their vote. What's the sort of steps that they
can expect now?
S2 (03:22):
The telephone vote itself for people that haven't done it before?
It's a two stage process, and it's in two stages
to preserve the privacy of your ballot. Of course, Australia
invented the secret ballot, and we wouldn't be doing our
jobs if we just took that away for people who
were blind or had low vision. So it's a two
call setup. So first and foremost, you give us a
(03:43):
call after you've registered. We verify your identity and check
you off the electoral roll. We then provide an anonymous code.
So you then call a second number and provide that
code without providing your name. And someone on the phone
will take your vote and walk you through the ballot paper.
Of course, in a completely anonymous way. So the privacy
(04:04):
of your vote is absolutely guaranteed through this process, which
is a really, really important part of the process. Now,
with that said, telephone voting is not the only thing
that we're doing to make voting accessible, and there are
a range of measures that we're going to have in
place at polling places as well, including some that we
have collaborated with through Vision Australia. We're looking at working
(04:25):
with Vision Australia to develop and distribute accessible information about
voting all the way through this election period.
S1 (04:32):
I'm very keen to hear about those. I mean, telephone
voting is fantastic, but people, when they do feel like
they would like to, you know, show up to the
polling place in person and cast their votes that way,
and they might have some mobility issues, or they may
have issues with different surfaces with their cane or their
(04:53):
seeing eye dog, and they might have to deal with
those sort of things. Or, you know, how do they
fill out their vote in person? So I'm very keen
to get those details as well, Alex.
S2 (05:05):
Absolutely. So the most important thing I will say is
when the AEC publishes information about the locations of all
of the polling places, which will be in a couple
of weeks time. On our polling place finder tool, you'll
be able to find information about accessibility options that are
available at the polling place. These will be including things about,
you know, whether a polling place is fully wheelchair accessible. Now,
(05:28):
if you're working with a cane or if you're working
with a guide dog, you might want to avoid stairs
as well. So that is something that you can definitely
monitor and choose a polling place or even a pre-poll
voting place as well based on those criteria. We'll also
have information about some of the accessibility options that we
have in place, particularly for people who are blind or
have low vision.
S1 (05:49):
And Alex, it's not just people who are blind or
have low vision that the AEC is looking to make
things more accessible for. Of course, you've got quite a
few resources for voters who are deaf or hard of hearing,
isn't that right?
S2 (06:05):
Of course, we have hearing loops in place in selected
polling places. That's a technology that's been around for some
time now. We're continuing to roll it out, and information
about where those hearing loops will be available will be
available on our website. It's not every polling place, of course,
because with polling places we're booking out things like school
gymnasiums and church halls. Some of them just don't have
(06:25):
the technology in place to offer that. But where we can,
we do. And that information is on our website.
S1 (06:30):
And Alex, there's some other technology for voters who are
blind or have low vision. On top of the telephone voting,
there's some digital technology available at some polling places for
voters who do show up to the polling place.
S2 (06:49):
The other really important technology that we're offering in some
polling places. So again, check the polling place finder to
work out which polling places you can find this technology at.
Text to speech pens. Again, this is something that you
might have used at previous elections. It's a great technology
for the people that need it. And you can find
all of that information on our website.
S1 (07:09):
And if all else fails, Alex, of course, there's the
traditional methods of getting assistance at the polling place. So
tell our listeners a little bit about how they go
about that and potentially call ahead of time to let
the polling place know that they might just need a
little bit of extra help.
S2 (07:29):
Now, the other thing that is available at any polling
place in Australia is, of course, the old favourite of
putting your hand up and asking for assistance. You can
if you have a friend with you, you can ask
your friend for assistance with casting your vote. You can also,
if you prefer, not to, you know, share your your
vote with with a friend or or you'd prefer to
to keep that a bit more anonymous, you can talk
(07:51):
to an AEC staff member directly and we can help
you out with that process. We're not going to tell
you how to vote. Of course, that's not our role
and that's not something that we do. But we will
walk you through. Who's on the ballot paper. Where would
you like to allocate your first preference, your second preference, etc., etc.?
That is something we can do if you're in a
circumstance where you have there are some more serious accessibility
(08:12):
limitations and you're not even able to get out of
your car to get into a polling place, we can
actually bring ballot papers out to you as well. Just
flag that with our staff When you get to a
polling place, or if you'd like more information about that
as well, you can give us a call on one three,
two three, two six and we can talk you through
the best way to approach that situation as well.
S1 (08:32):
And for voters who are deaf or hard of hearing. Alex,
there's more options for them as well if they head
along to certain polling places. Tell us a bit about that.
S2 (08:44):
Of course, the most important one as well. One of
the options that is new at this election, I believe,
or is being rolled out more at this election and
is something that we're really, really proud of, is a
virtual Auslan interpreter service that we're actually offering in collaboration
with Convo Australia. So when you get to a polling place,
there'll be a QR code that you can actually scan
with your phone, and that will give you access to
(09:06):
a virtual Auslan interpreter that you can then use while
you're talking to our staff. And that will walk you
through the entire voting process as well. So a really,
really important accessibility measure and something that I hope people
are okay.
S1 (09:21):
That is fantastic news for, you know, both the blind
and low vision and deaf and hard of hearing communities. Now, Alex,
let's get all of those contact details, all those websites,
all those emails, all those phone numbers for all of
our listeners out there. So that's, you know, how to
sign up for telephone voting or visit some websites or
(09:46):
emails to find out about that, how to find out
about the accessibility measures at polling places or any general
information they might be interested in. What are some first
call go to places for people to contact the Aacn
find out more.
S2 (10:04):
Uh, of course the repository of all wisdom is AEC.
That is our website. It has been updated for the
election and will continue to be updated as as the
election continues and we roll out the locations of polling places,
we'll also have information up about the names and the
ballot paper position of candidates. Once we've done the draw
for ballot paper position that's happening next Friday. So look
(10:27):
out for that. And we have information available specifically about
the accessibility options available to voters at Arc-gurren. Accessibility. You
can visit that page at any point during the period
and give us a call on 132326. And our staff
can help you out with the answers to the questions
that you have. But the other thing that you can
(10:48):
do is that you can contact the AEC through the
National Relay Service. Now we have information about how to
do that on our website, but the National Relay Service
have been a partner for us for some time. We're
really happy to be working with them again at this election,
and they are a great resource to get you some
more accessible information and to contact us in a more
accessible way. If you're on social media, you're also welcome
(11:11):
to reach out to us, either in a public tag
or just by sending us a DM. We are active
on Facebook, we are active on Instagram. We are active
on threads. You can find us on TikTok for the
first time. Uh, we're also on the site formerly known
as Twitter, now known as X, and you can even
find us on LinkedIn if you're feeling a little bit
more professionally minded, but you're welcome to reach out to
(11:32):
us via a DM or a tag on those platforms.
We'll be happy to answer your questions there as well.
S1 (11:37):
Oh wow, that's certainly covered all bases there. Thank you
so much, Alex. I've been speaking today with Alex Morris
from the Australian Electoral Commission here to chat to me
about the range of accessibility measures for voters who are
blind or have low vision, or are otherwise voters with
(11:58):
disabilities heading to polling places or signing up for telephone
voting in the lead up to the Australian federal election
in May. Alex, thank you so much for your time today.
It was great to catch up with you and hear
about all the ways that the AEC is making voting
(12:19):
accessible for all voters in Australia with disabilities.
S2 (12:24):
It's been my pleasure, Sam. Have a lovely election and
I look forward to seeing you at a polling place.
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