Coalition to block vote reform plans

The coalition will block a federal government plan to ban political parties from
mailing out postal vote forms with campaign material.
The Liberal Party has traditionally used this strategy to win over elderly voters,
who are often too frail to cast a ballot on election day.
Opposition special minister of state spokesman Michael Ronaldson sees this as a
hostile act.
"The changes to postal vote applications are not an integrity measure," Senator
Ronaldson told AAP.
"They are a cheap attempt to attack the coalition because the coalition always does
better than Labor in postal votes."
The Rudd government will introduce legislation in the lower house of parliament this
week to reform the Commonwealth Electoral Act ahead of the next election.
Senator Ronaldson said the postal voting proposal was not recommended by the
parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters.
But Special Minister of State Joe Ludwig said the government had recommended having
postal vote applications sent directly to the Australian Electoral Commission,
rather than political parties, to address privacy issues.
The federal government also faces a fight over its plan to restore the seven-day
period which people can enrol to vote or change their enrolment details following
the issuing of a writ for an election.
The period was controversially shortened by the previous Howard government after the
2004 election, taking the close of rolls to 8pm on the day of an election writ.
Labor also wants to reverse the requirement for provisional voters to show proof of
identity at polling booths.
The coalition have opposed both measures in the lower house, and the Senate is now
considering them.
But the government has brought the close of roll and voting identification measures
back before the lower house, repackaged with new amendments.
The government wants to ban political parties from running multiple candidates in an
electorate.
Labor is also proposing a maximum $1100 penalty for people who put fraudulent
authorisations on how-to-vote cards but the coalition wants a more stringent
penalty.
The coalition will back the government on moves to allow vision-impaired people to
vote in secret by phone.
A plan to let the Australian Electoral Commission count pre-poll and postal votes on
election night, and handle the enrolment details of constituents across state
borders is also set to pass.
The Electoral and Referendum bills were scheduled to go before the House of
Representatives on Tuesday.