Anyone With COVID Will Now Be Able To Do Phone Voting Thanks To Monique Ryan

All Australians in COVID isolation for tomorrow’s federal election will still be able to cast their vote, thanks to a last-minute change to legislation after campaigning from Kooyong independent candidate Monique Ryan.

The Australian Electoral Commission confirmed on Thursday that more than 100,000 people would be unable to cast their vote due to a system loophole that meant COVID-positive voters who missed the postal voting cut-off would not be able to utilise the telephone voting system.

Postal voting registration closed at 6pm on Tuesday night, but telephone voting was only available for people who tested positive after this cut off period, potentially leaving hundreds of thousands of Australians without the option to vote. The AEC noted that these people would have a valid reason for not voting and therefore would not be fined. However, many argued that they still wanted to exercise their democratic right.

Following the news, lawyers for Ryan announced they would be taking legal action to challenge the regulation in a last-ditch effort to resolve the issue.

“Up to 200,000 Australians are now in an absurd situation. If they tested positive Covid at 6.01 pm on Tuesday they can vote by phone. If they tested positive for Covid at 5.59pm, they cannot vote by phone,” said Ryan on Thursday night. “The Morrison government has had two years to prepare for an election where we knew people would be Covid positive. This is serious ineptitude resulting in the disenfranchisement of up to 1 percent of the electorate. This could be enough to change the result in many seats.”

A crowdfunding effort organised by Ryan had raised more than $73,000 for the costs of the challenge by 9:30pm last night, clearly illustrating how many people were passionate about it.

Thankfully, the issue was resolved in the early hours of Friday morning after the government accepted the AEC’s advice to expand the eligibility criteria, meaning anyone diagnosed with COVID-19 after 6pm on Friday, May 13 can now utilise the service.

The AEC has, however, warned that wait times will be long and has requested people to vote today if possible.

“This matter has now been resolved,” AEC Commissioner Tom Rogers told ABC’s RN Breakfast. “For those that registered for the service yesterday and haven’t yet voted, can I ask them to jump on and do that today? Not leave it till tomorrow.

“This is an emergency measure. You know, as I’ve said all the way along, it’s going to be very lumpy because it’s an emergency provision. So please help us out by doing that today.”

Ryan’s efforts to resolve an issue that could’ve impacted hundreds of thousands of Australians from all electorates in the country truly cannot be understated. Monique Ryan and Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg are neck and neck for the seat of Kooyong ahead of tomorrow’s election.