AEC Rules Deny Some Covid-Positive Voters Their Say At This Year’s Federal Election

With the federal election only days away, people who tested positive to Covid before 6pm on Tuesday are caught in regulation limbo.

These Covid-positive voters, cannot attend a polling booth on Saturday, are too late to register for a postal vote, which closed at 6pm on Wednesday, and are ineligible for phone voting.

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Eligibility for emergency telephone voting is restricted to people who tested positive after Tuesday.

“For people who did not apply for a postal vote before the application cut off, haven’t voted yet, tested positive before Tuesday and are in isolation through to after election day, they may not be able to vote,” a spokesperson for the Australian Electoral Commission said.

Independent candidate for Kooyong in Victoria Monique Ryan tweeted earlier today that, “The AEC does a fantastic job running elections and COVID-19 is a difficult complication.

“But this is not hard to fix. All it requires is that these affected electors are able to vote by phone.”

Meanwhile, Covid cases and hospitalisations across Australia and New Zealand look like this:

Western Australia 

• New cases: 17,105
• Covid-related deaths: 6
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 300 / 10

Northern Territory 

• New cases: TBA
• Covid-related deaths: TBA
• Hospital and ICU admissions: TBA

Australian Capital Territory 

• New cases: 997   
• Covid-related deaths: 1
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 82 / 4 

Queensland 

• New cases: 6,448
• Covid-related deaths: 2
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 493 / 12

New South Wales 

• New cases: 10,964
• Covid-related deaths: 22
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 1,283 / 46

Victoria 

• New cases: 13,201
• Covid-related deaths: 14
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 512 / 32

South Australia 

• New cases: 4,395
• Covid-related deaths: 5
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 246 / 11

Tasmania 

• New cases: 1,076
• Covid-related deaths: 2
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 43 / 2

New Zealand 

• New cases: 9,091
• Covid-related deaths: 5
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 411 / 12

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