Get-Up! Win for voters

GetUp! wins case for online voter registration

Australians will now be able to enrol to vote online after the Federal Court ruled in favour of political activist group GetUp!'s case against the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).

GetUp! had taken the AEC to the court, challenging electoral laws that prevented voters from enrolling online.

It is the group's second court win in as many weeks.

Last week the High Court ruled Howard government changes that closed the electoral rolls on the day writs were issued were unconstitutional and restored to as many 100,000 voters their right to register to vote in the way they done generations before Howard's reign.  It is considered likely that those 100,000 will vote against the reactionary politicians who messed with their rights, and may tip the scales in the close election.

GetUp! national director Simon Sheikh says today's decision is historic.

"With 1.4 million Australians not on the electoral roll earlier this year, we need to do every single thing we can to get bureaucracy and red tape out of the way," he said.

"We know that we pay our taxes online, that we do our banking online and we should be able to enrol to vote online."

He said GetUp! would be campaigning to allow online enrolments in all future elections, starting with the Victorian state poll in November.

"In future the AEC should provide a safe and secure form on their own site for people to enrol to vote online," Mr Sheikh said.