The Electoral Commission is pleased to present its statutory report on the 2023 General Election, held on 14 October.
This election saw continued high levels of participation, with the highest enrolment rate (94.7%) since 2008 and a turnout rate of 78.2% of those enrolled.
It also saw a large increase in enrolment activity after writ day, when the electoral rolls used for issuing ordinary votes are printed. In 2023 there were more than 600,000 enrolments or updates after writ day, including 450,000 during the voting period (110,000 of which were on election day itself).
This contributed to significant growth in the number of special votes issued during the election. Over 600,000 special votes were issued – meaning 21% of voters cast a special vote. Special votes take longer to issue and to process than ordinary votes, which means additional pressure both on the service provided at voting places and on the official count.
After the release of official results on 3 November, the Commission identified errors that required these results to be amended. Although these errors did not change the results, they were concerning. After discussion with us, the Auditor-General provided a thorough review of our quality assurance processes.
Our Report on the 2023 General Election contains detailed information on these and other aspects of the election, as well as 44 recommendations for improving delivery of future elections.
Report on the 2023 General Election [PDF, 2.9MB]