Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:C2025C00152:section:245:p1
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:C2025C00152
Segment Type: section
Provision Reference: s 245 (pt 1/4)
Character Range: 521466–523927

245  Compulsory voting
 (1) It shall be the duty of every elector to vote at each election.
 (2) The Electoral Commissioner must, after polling day at each election, prepare for each Division a list of the names and addresses of the electors who appear to have failed to vote at the election.
 (3) Subject to subsection (4), within the period of 3 months after the polling day at each election, each DRO must:
 (a) send a penalty notice by post; or
 (b) arrange for a penalty notice to be delivered by other means;
to the latest known address of each elector whose name appears on the list prepared under subsection (2).
 (4) The DRO is not required to send or deliver a penalty notice if he or she is satisfied that the elector:
 (a) is dead; or
 (b) was absent from Australia on polling day; or
 (c) was ineligible to vote at the election; or
 (d) had a valid and sufficient reason for failing to vote.
 (5) A penalty notice is a notice in an approved form notifying the elector that:
 (a) the elector appears to have failed to vote at the election; and
 (b) it is an offence to fail to vote at an election without a valid and sufficient reason for the failure; and
 (c) if the elector does not wish to have the apparent failure to vote dealt with by a court, the elector may, within the prescribed time:
 (i) if the elector did vote as required by this Act—give the DRO particulars of the circumstances of the elector's voting; or
 (ii) if the elector failed to vote—give the DRO a valid and sufficient reason for the failure; or
 (iii) pay to the DRO a penalty of $20.
 (6) If an elector does not respond to a penalty notice in the manner indicated in subparagraph (5)(c)(i), (ii) or (iii), within the prescribed time, the DRO must:
 (a) send a second penalty notice by post; or
 (b) arrange for a second penalty notice to be delivered by other means;
to the elector, at his or her latest known address.
 (6A) The second penalty notice must, subject to subsection (7), have the same form as the first penalty notice but bear a notation to the effect that a previous notice in the same terms was sent to the elector but that a response in the manner indicated in subparagraph (5)(c)(i), (ii) or (iii) was not received.
 (7) The provisions of this section, other than subsection (6), apply in relation to a second penalty notice:
 (a) as if it were a penalty notice issued under subsection (3); and
 (b) as if, in the provisions of this section as so applied,