Since Malcolm Turnbull marched up to Government House to ask the Governor-General to dissolve Parliament and issue the writs, GetUp members have been busy.
Here's what we achieved together in just a few short weeks.
We took the government to court ...and lost
It's estimated that in NSW there are 100,000 more voters on the state electoral rolls than the federal ones. Why? Because NSW election law allows people to enrol to vote all the way up to – and including – election day.
That's why we dreamt big, backing in a High Court challenge which would've made voting day enrolment the national standard.
An incredible 1172 GetUp members chipped in to fund this bold challenge. Although the High Court decided to leave the rules unchanged, our challenge received national media, bringing public attention to these outdated laws.
Thank you to everyone who made this case possible. It isn't our first rodeo – and it certainly won't be our last.
Two million people reached
Straight out of court, GetUp members hit their phone books and their newsfeeds for an intensive two week enrolment campaign – to reach as many of the 950,000 eligible Australians missing from the electoral roll.
One million GetUp members acting together touched a phenomenal two million Australians – on email, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Not to mention the tens of thousands more who saw our voter enrolment ad on ABC and Sky News.
It was a whirlwind of a campaign, replete with bawdy videos and "dank memes". But how do we know it worked...
9000 enrolments every hour
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has been effusive in praising this year's enrolment efforts – reporting a huge spike in numbers. And on the final day to enrol, the AEC was receiving over 9000 enrol-to-vote forms an hour.2
Now, a whole week after the closure of the rolls, they are still counting how many people have been added to the electoral roll! But no matter where we end up, the tens of thousands of new voters on the electoral roll are more than enough to tip this year's electoral outcome...
Sky News: GetUp's campaign worked!
Finally, on Monday evening, National Director Paul Oosting appeared on national television where Sky News journalist Laura Jayes lauded the hard work of GetUp members in getting the word out on enrolment.
That almost one million Australians miss out on the chance to exercise their democratic rights every election day is a crying shame. To make matters worse, the statistics tell us that it's young people, migrants and Indigenous Australians who are most likely to miss out.
GetUp members have fought hard throughout our ten year history to make our democracy as broad and as active as possible, and when it comes to the fundamental right of every citizen having a voice, this election has been no exception. And it's not over yet!
Thank you for whatever part you played, big or small.
But let's be clear – in a democracy we shouldn't have to go to such extreme lengths to make sure every citizen is able to have their say.
Keep up the good fight,
Nat, Daney and Ruby, for the GetUp team
Here's what we achieved together in just a few short weeks.
We took the government to court ...and lost
It's estimated that in NSW there are 100,000 more voters on the state electoral rolls than the federal ones. Why? Because NSW election law allows people to enrol to vote all the way up to – and including – election day.
That's why we dreamt big, backing in a High Court challenge which would've made voting day enrolment the national standard.
An incredible 1172 GetUp members chipped in to fund this bold challenge. Although the High Court decided to leave the rules unchanged, our challenge received national media, bringing public attention to these outdated laws.
Thank you to everyone who made this case possible. It isn't our first rodeo – and it certainly won't be our last.
Two million people reached
Straight out of court, GetUp members hit their phone books and their newsfeeds for an intensive two week enrolment campaign – to reach as many of the 950,000 eligible Australians missing from the electoral roll.
One million GetUp members acting together touched a phenomenal two million Australians – on email, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Not to mention the tens of thousands more who saw our voter enrolment ad on ABC and Sky News.
It was a whirlwind of a campaign, replete with bawdy videos and "dank memes". But how do we know it worked...
9000 enrolments every hour
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has been effusive in praising this year's enrolment efforts – reporting a huge spike in numbers. And on the final day to enrol, the AEC was receiving over 9000 enrol-to-vote forms an hour.2
Now, a whole week after the closure of the rolls, they are still counting how many people have been added to the electoral roll! But no matter where we end up, the tens of thousands of new voters on the electoral roll are more than enough to tip this year's electoral outcome...
Sky News: GetUp's campaign worked!
Finally, on Monday evening, National Director Paul Oosting appeared on national television where Sky News journalist Laura Jayes lauded the hard work of GetUp members in getting the word out on enrolment.
That almost one million Australians miss out on the chance to exercise their democratic rights every election day is a crying shame. To make matters worse, the statistics tell us that it's young people, migrants and Indigenous Australians who are most likely to miss out.
GetUp members have fought hard throughout our ten year history to make our democracy as broad and as active as possible, and when it comes to the fundamental right of every citizen having a voice, this election has been no exception. And it's not over yet!
Thank you for whatever part you played, big or small.
But let's be clear – in a democracy we shouldn't have to go to such extreme lengths to make sure every citizen is able to have their say.
Keep up the good fight,
Nat, Daney and Ruby, for the GetUp team
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