Federal election: All you need to know

Australian Electoral Commissioner Jeff Pope said the announcement of the Federal election for May 3 serves as the starter’s gun for the AEC’s work to deliver Australia’s largest ever election.

“There are more voters on the electoral roll than ever before, there’ll be more voting venues than ever – both within Australia and overseas, there’ll be greater accessibility options than we’ve ever had, and we again need around 100,000 staff to deliver it,” Mr Pope said.

So here are some key statistics:

• 710,000 more people on the electoral roll (2022 federal election – end 2024)
• 570 early voting centres
• 7,000 polling places
• 100+ overseas voting centres
• 100,000 staff needed, 240,000 vests
• 250,000 pencils, 250,000 lengths of string
• 40,000 transport routes, 90,000 transport containers, 5,000 rolls of tamper proof tape
• 80,000 ballot boxes, 1.4 millions security seals

“We’re ready to go. You also need to be ready as well – check your enrolment now and please consider putting up your hand for paid election work. aec.gov.au allows you to do those things in just minutes,” Mr Pope said.

Enrolment

• Enrolment closes at 8pm local time on Monday 7 April 2025.
• If you are an Australian citizen and over 18 years of age, it is compulsory by law to enrol and vote.
• Enrolling or updating your details is easy via the AEC website and takes five minutes to complete.
• Australia’s enrolment rate is the envy of most democratic nations with the last estimate at 97.8% completeness (end 2024).
• The AEC expects to process hundreds of thousands of enrolment transactions in the next week.
• The final enrolment number and rate for this federal election is highly likely to be a record high.

Postal voting applications

• Applications for postal votes are now open on the AEC’s website.
• You are eligible to apply for a postal vote if you are unable to get to a polling place on polling day.
• The AEC expects around 2.5 million Australians will apply for a postal vote.
• Voters are encouraged to consider their eligibility and apply for a postal vote as early as possible.
• Postal delivery timeframes may mean voters who wait until the final week of the election period to apply – especially voters in regional areas – may miss out.
• While it is legal for political parties to mail postal vote application forms to voters, the AEC is continuing to urge voters to apply directly through the AEC.

Election jobs available

• The AEC needs around 100,000 temporary staff to run the election.
• Workers are needed across the country but particularly in regional areas.
• There are roles available for a single day (Election Day) or for several weeks before, on and after voting day.
• It is paid employment, good for the CV and will ensure locals the opportunity to vote close to home.
• Register interest online now.

Voting Options

Australia’s access to voting options is significantly better than most democratic nations.

Australians can vote on election day, during the two weeks before election day, interstate, in-person overseas, overseas via international courier, via domestic post, through a mobile voting team at some hospitals and residential care facilities, via a remote area voter services team and via phone (for people who are blind or have low vision or in Antarctica)

Full details of voting options will be made available on the AEC website as they are confirmed.

Third party postal voting

The AEC is warning voters about using unsolicited postal vote application forms from political parties, including via SMS prompts.

While it is only ever the AEC who distributes postal vote ballot papers, unsolicited application forms – received via SMS, email or your mailbox – are sent by a political party or candidate, not the AEC. They are reportedly used by political parties to collect data about voters before forwarding to the AEC.

While this is allowed under the Commonwealth Electoral Act, and a legitimate avenue to apply for a postal vote, there is often concern about the timeliness of applications getting to the AEC and the privacy of an applicant’s details.

“A Federal election is Australia’s great festival of democracy, and no matter what your circumstances are the Australian Electoral Commission has voting options available,” Mr Pope added.

“Australia’s electoral roll is already sitting at an incredible 97.8% of eligible voters enrolled, but we know the announcement of an election will be an incentive for new voters in particular to get enrolled.”

“Enrolling takes less than five minutes and can be done online. For the first time at a Federal election, you can now use your Medicare card to enrol – it’s never been easier.”