More than 3000 eligible residents in Swan Hill municipality failed to vote by the October 21 deadline and will now face a “please explain” and potential fine.
The average voter turnout across the three contested wards was 76.13 per cent, just shy of the 77.22 per cent turnout for the 2012 election when all four wards were contested.
In the Central Ward, 2,175 people failed to vote while 443 and 486 residents didn’t bother to vote in the Lakes and Murray-Mallee wards respectively.
Latest figures from the Victorian Electoral Commission revealed that 1.144 million people did not vote from a total of 4.274 million electors for 76 councils.
Swan Hill voters who did not exercise their democratic right will now receive a “please explain” letter in the post before facing a $78 fine — and potentially delivering a $89 million windfall to the state government.
To read more about this story, grab a copy of Wednesday’s Guardian (November 9).
