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Getting to the Root of Australia’s ‘Informal Ballot’ Problem

Some voters in Australia’s compulsory voting system purposefully spoil their ballots, but a new assessment suggests that most just don’t understand the complex system and make mistakes. 

A significant problem has emerged over the past few federal elections in Australia. A consistently high number of “informal ballots” have been cast. An informal ballot, in the language of the independent Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), is a vote that cannot be counted toward a result. The number of such votes has hovered around 5 percent over the past three elections, with an uptick of 0.4 percentage points at last year’s election. 

In response to this, the AEC launched an inquiry into why this is occurring, and this month published their findings. 

In Australia’s compulsory voting system, it is only a requirement to turn up to the ballot box. Once you have your name ticked off and receive a ballot you are well within your rights to intentionally spoil the ballot. You can draw pictures on it, or write your opinions, or put a large cross through all the candidates. This can be useful information, by providing a registration of extreme discontent. If such sentiments are particularly prominent in certain regions, that’s valuable information to have.

However, the AEC concluded from its inquiry that only a quarter of people who cast informal ballots at the 2025 election actively intended to spoil their ballot in this way. The other three-quarters were trying to vote using the correct procedure, but didn’t understand how. 

The inquiry also found that there were certain seats where informal votes were much higher, and here there was a recognizable problem. In the ten seats with the highest number of informal votes, eight have large migrant populations. This was particularly pronounced in western Sydney, where two seats had informal ballots make up over 17 percent of total votes cast, and a third at just under 14 percent.

What can be deduced from this is that newer arrivals to the country are not being equipped with the required knowledge to fully participate in Australia’s democracy. Australia’s compulsory voting isn’t just about turnout. It rests on a broader expectation that citizens have at least a basic grasp of national affairs and see themselves as active participants. 

Because Australia makes voting compulsory the onus has been on the AEC (and its state-based equivalents) to make participation as accessible as possible. Voting is always on Saturdays, with polling places well distributed. Early voting is available to make sure that everyone has time to cast a ballot. Postal voting is available to anyone who doesn’t live close to a voting........

© The Diplomat