E-Voting: Fast facts from the VEC

Overview courtesy of Paul Thornton-Smith (Senior Research & Information Officer, VEC)

Q. How will electronically-assisted voting work at the 2014 Victorian State election?
Many Victorians will be eligible to vote electronically at the coming State election.
Electronically assisted voting will be available at selected voting centres (see below), but not
online. Voting will take place on touch-screen tablets, which will provide visual and auditory
information. There are measures to ensure that the vote is secret, secure, verifiable and
matches the voters intentions (see accompanying story).

Q. Who can vote electronically?
The Electoral Act provides that electronic voting can be accessed by an elector who
otherwise cannot vote without assistance because of:
A visual impairment
A motor impairment, or
Insufficient literacy skills, either in English or in their primary spoken language

Also, voters who are interstate or overseas can vote electronically where facilities are
available.

Features of the VECs system cater for each of these factors. For example, blind voters will
hear information and instructions, and vote by swiping the touch-screen. Voters who cannot
read English will be able to read and hear information in their own language.

Q. Where and when will electronically assisted voting be available?
Electronically assisted voting will only take place at early voting centres, from 17-28
November. It will be at the following locations:
Six super centres at North Essendon, Box Hill, Ringwood, Pakenham, North Geelong
and Wendouree, which will provide a comprehensive range of services for voters with
disabilities
Eighteen other early voting centres
London, where there were some 700 electronic votes in 2010.

Q. Do you need to book to vote electronically?
No, you just need to turn up at one of the centres.

Q. How will people find out about electronic voting?
The VEC will advertise the availability of electronically assisted voting on TV, radio and in the
press in the last two weeks of the election. The VEC EasyVote guide to be posted to all
voters will include information about electronically assisted voting.

The VEC website will also contain information.