In 2016 the Western Australian Parliament amended the Electoral Act to specifically allow for technology assisted voting for people who are blind or sight impaired, have literacy difficulties or are impacted by some form of incapacity that makes voting difficult or impossible to do in secret. For the first time at a WA State election, eligible electors have been able to vote independently over the internet or by IVR telephone.
The Commission worked with the NSW Electoral Commission and a number of suppliers to deliver the iVote system at this election. There was also considerable discussion and testing of the system undertaken with target audience groups and representative bodies. The Commission would particularly like to thank the team at VisAbility for their help and support in developing the system and promoting it to their members.
The initiative has proved to be very successful with a total of 2288 electors casting their vote in this way.
The Electoral Commissioner, David Kerslake said he was very pleased how the initiative had progressed and the positive feedback received from target audience groups.
The Commission encourages and values feedback on the iVote system. Accordingly, a post-election survey of iVote users who opted to participate is soon to be undertaken. The Commission looks forward to receiving feedback and comments whether positive or negative via the iVote survey response.