General News
28 March, 2025
Fine risk for those who fail to vote
PEOPLE who did not vote in the October State election can expect to get a letter demanding to know why they failed to vote or they will be fined.
The Electoral Commission of Queensland will be writing to approximately 350,000 Queenslanders who appeared not to have voted in the 2024 election.
Electoral Commissioner of Queensland Pat Vidgen said voting was a democratic right that came with responsibility.
He said voters may have a genuinely valid reason for not casting their vote.
“We recognise that there might be circumstances where someone hasn’t been able to vote, so we want to give people an opportunity to share their reason for not voting with us,” he said.
“We want to know the reason why people didn’t vote, so we’re sending 350,000 people an ’Apparent failure to vote notice’.”
Voters who receive a notice can provide a valid reason for not voting, provide details if they did vote and weren’t marked off, or pay half the full penalty of $80 before the due date.
If the ECQ does not hear from the apparent non-voter, or if a reason provided is not considered valid or sufficient, a penalty infringement notice will be sent and a full penalty of one unit or $161 will apply.
For those who choose to ignore the infringement notice, the matter will be referred to the State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER), where extra charges may apply.
For more information, visit www.ecq.qld.gov.au
