Fiach MacConghail (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The point I am making is that the Minister is right about the register. Time has moved on and we have better technology. However it is smart to go around and knock on doors, ask for a vote and have the voter register so as to mark on it which way people are going to vote so that one can go back to them again. I learned how important this was when I canvassed for Minister Ruairí Quinn, before I became disillusioned and left the Labour Party.

In the UK, postal ballot papers are sent out first to the local electoral office. The earliest they can be sent out is after 5 p.m. some 11 working days before polling day. This is because 5 p.m., 11 working days before polling day is the deadline for new applications to vote by post. The electoral office then posts ballot papers out to those on the postal register. It is also possible to avail of proxy voting. British citizens living abroad can use this facility in UK parliamentary and European parliamentary elections. However, they cannot use it in local elections or in elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

In the UK, the Representation of the People Act made provision for postal voting on demand. My daughter, for example, might be away on an Erasmus year and might just miss being here for an election. I will not bore the Minister with the various reasons people might miss an election, because he understands them. The issue is about how we can enable more people to vote. Just as people are now watching television on their laptops and are engaging online, postal and electronic voting would be more convenient. Traditional engagement with the State has gone online. Therefore, accepting this amendment would be a small, but important, opportunity for the Minister to show an understanding that the world has changed in terms of communication. A review of 38 pilot projects by the local government association in the UK found that postal voting was the only electoral arrangement to have significant potential to increase turnout.

In Australia, particular categories of people, including eligible voters who will not be in the country on election day, can apply to vote by post. These are both circumstantial postal voters and general postal voters. According to the Australian electoral commission, eligible voters can vote early or can apply for a postal vote if they will be more than 8 km from a polling place on election day, if they are travelling, unable to leave work, seriously ill, infirm or approaching childbirth. These are unplanned events preventing voters from getting to the polls. I believe this Bill should have more of a voter facilitation theme.

In Australia also, a patient who is in hospital, a prisoner or person whose address is suppressed on the public register - a silent elector - can also vote by post. Other people who can apply to become general postal voters are voters with a disability, voters in remote areas and people with religious objections to attending a polling station on election day. This means that ballot papers for all federal elections will be sent to them, without the need to apply each time. For federal elections, eligible voters must apply to vote by post before 6 p.m. on the Thursday before an election. However, the electoral commission warns that if they have to vote by post, they must allow enough time for the ballot paper to reach them and for them to return it by post.

In debating the electoral and referendum amendment Bill in Australia, Andrew Lee, MP, said that while the majority of voters still cast their vote in person at a polling booth, more and more were choosing to cast a postal vote. He went on to say that they needed to make it easier to apply for and process postal votes. In the 2010 election, there were over 800,000 postal votes cast, in comparison with approximately 700,00 in 2007, 600,000 in 2004 and approximately 100,000 in 2001. The same trend could be seen in his electoral area of Fraser. The number of postal votes increased by almost 60% between 2001 and 2010. This demonstrates how enabling a voter facilitation process can be.