Concerns over the “security” and “fairness” of the electoral roll 

Concerns over the “security” and “fairness” of the electoral roll 

While the electoral roll is considered a valuable dataset to anyone running in a council election, several City of Melbourne candidates are concerned by the current privacy measures and the inequitable nature of the ways the data can be used. 

For the purposes of campaigning, a copy of the voters’ roll is provided to council candidates by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC), which includes the names and addresses of all enrolled voters within their council or ward.

However, independent candidate Aishwarya Kansakar told CBD News she was shocked by the lack of privacy measures that were in place once she was granted access to residents’ personal information.

The 29-year-old Ms Kansakar, who’s forged a successful career in the tech industry, said she saw problems with the current system. 

But a VEC spokesperson assured that “data for candidates is securely stored in electorate-specific folders within the VEC’s secure data exchange platform, known as DEx.” 

They confirmed that before receiving access to the roll, the candidate declares that they understand that it can only be used for the purpose of conducting the election campaign and that they must return or destroy it within 30 days of the election. 

According to the spokesperson, there are severe penalties for misusing or failing to return or destroy the voters’ roll, and the VEC can audit when and how often the DEx system is accessed and the frequency of downloads. However, it can’t audit how the downloaded data is used. 

Ms Kansakar doesn’t think this goes far enough and that while candidates have to sign a declaration, it’s a system that could be streamlined and more secure. 

Lord Mayoral candidate Jamal Hakim is among those concerned, saying that he had similar reservations about the system when he first ran for council in 2020. 

But he said that this information was essential to running a campaign.

“Privacy is a really critical part of democracy,” Cr Hakim told CBD News, adding that he hoped that the candidates who had access to the electoral role respected the requirements around the use and disposal of the data.

Cr Hakim added that due to the electoral roll data being used primarily for mail-outs it’s important that the right mechanisms were in place to ensure that it was secure and not misused when given to a third party such as mailing houses. 

To increase the level of security and privacy, Ms Kansakar suggested that the data should be available on a central portal where it couldn’t be easily downloaded and that candidates shouldn’t be allowed to screenshot the data. 

Another glaring issue with the current system according to several independent candidates who spoke with CBD News, is that it is undemocratic by nature because only candidates with the financial might to fund mailouts are able to benefit from it. 

Team Innovate’s Andrew Rowse said that he didn’t even bother requesting access to the electoral roll as he couldn’t afford it – choosing to take to the streets by foot to do personal letterbox drops instead. 

He said that while embarking on the letterbox drops, he was unable to access apartment blocks that had their mailboxes secured inside.

“There’s an element there that is exceptionally undemocratic,” Mr Rowse said. “If you’re looking at areas that have a higher proportion of apartments, such as Southbank, it’s very difficult for a small independent to access or communicate with them.”

“What they [independents] receive is a very narrow portion of the democratic awareness.” 

Cr Hakim said that the cost of a mailout throughout the municipality would be upwards of $50,000 and that he had opted against it due to budget constraints, adding that campaign costs had ballooned so much that it was jeopardising the equity of the field.  

“We’re no longer being represented by people who are from the community,” Cr Hakim said. 

The electoral roll data has been used for campaign purposes by Teams Reece, Wood, Kouta and the Liberals and they have ensured it has been used in accordance with the rules. •


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