In July 2008, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, together with the PILCH Homeless Persons’ Legal Clinic and the Victorian Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, made a Submission to the Parliament of Victoria Electoral Matters Committee Inquiry into Voter Participation and Informal Voting.
The submission examines and discusses the following issues:
- the right to vote as stipulated in section 18 of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 and the significance of international human rights and the right to vote in Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR);
- the importance of recognising and ensuring realisation of, the right to vote for people experiencing homelessness and imprisonment;
- the various barriers, disincentives and impediments to electoral enrolment and participation among people experiencing homelessness and imprisonment;
- levels of electoral enrolment and electoral participation among people experiencing homelessness and imprisonment; and
- practical and legislative strategies and remedies to increase levels of electoral enrolment and participation for people experiencing homelessness or imprisonment, including public education and awareness campaigns and flexible enrolment and voting processes.
