Court decision adds 57,732 voters


Almost 60,000 extra Australians will be able to vote at Saturday's federal election following a landmark court decision, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) says.

Earlier this month, the High Court overturned amendments introduced by the Howard government in 2006 tightening the electoral enrolment requirements for new and existing voters.

The tighter rules meant new voters - mostly those had just turned 18 - had to be enrolled by 8pm on the day the election writs were issued, instead of seven days later.

The decision was originally believed to have allowed an additional 100,000 voters to go to the ballot box this weekend, but the AEC said on Wednesday that after processing, the figure was actually 57,732.

The revised total number of Australians enrolled to vote is now 14,088,260, compared to the previous total of 14,030,528 before the High Court handed down its findings.

The AEC said a further 40,408 voters had their existing enrolment details updated, as a result of lobby group GetUp's legal challenge.

Overall, 143,728 net additions to the electoral roll have been made since the election was called last month.

A net total of 443,187 electors have been added to the roll since the close of rolls for the 2007 federal election, when 13,645,073 people were enrolled to vote.

Vote 1- Australian Greens.  The fair and sensible people.

A vote for Greens is a vote for president Obamas policies, given these are the policies being used by a Gillard labor government of which the Greens have preferenced.

Obama did not save Australia in the down turn. The Rudd Government did.
Scoff all you like, but we are in a better position that most other countries.
Yes we have debt, but we can recover more quickly that if they had not acted.

Absolutely, stimulus saved $16Bn of tax revenue.