Editing Postal voting (section)

===Australia===
At the [[2016 Australian federal election]], there were 1.2 million postal votes cast, amounting to 8.5 percent of total votes.<ref name = "Muller">{{cite news|url=https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook45p/FederalElection2016|title=The 2016 federal election|first=Damon|last=Muller|publisher=Australian Parliamentary Library|year=2016|access-date=11 April 2020|archive-date=27 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527021843/https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook45p/FederalElection2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

Postal voting in Australia was introduced for [[Elections in Australia|federal elections]] in 1902, and first used at the [[1903 Australian federal election|1903 election]]. It was abolished by the [[Andrew Fisher|Fisher government]] in 1910, following claims that it was open to abuse and biased towards rural voters. The [[Joseph Cook|Cook government]]'s bill to restore postal voting was one of the "triggers" for the [[double dissolution]] prior to the [[1914 Australian federal election|1914 election]]. Postal voting was eventually restored by the [[Billy Hughes|Hughes government]] in 1918 and has not been challenged since, although the provisions and requirements have been amended on a number of occasions.<ref name=aitkin>{{cite journal|first1=Don|last1=Aitkin|author-link=Don Aitkin|first2=Kim|last2=Morgan|title=Postal and Absent Voting: A Democratic Dilemma|journal=[[The Australian Quarterly]]|year=1971|volume=43|issue=3|pages=53–70|doi=10.2307/20634455|jstor=20634455}}</ref>

Prior to [[Federation of Australia|Federation]] in 1901, [[Colony of Western Australia|Western Australia]] introduced a form of postal voting in 1877 with strict eligibility criteria. [[Colony of South Australia|South Australia]] introduced postal voting for seamen in 1890,<ref name="atsod">{{cite book |title=Australia: The State of Democracy |last=Sawer |first=Marian |author2=Norman Abjorensen |author3=Philip Larkin  |year=2009 |publisher=Federation Press |isbn=978-1862877252 |pages=107–114 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F09pc74M9NMC |access-date=13 June 2013}}</ref> and a further act in 1896 gave postal votes to any elector who would be more than {{convert|15|mi|km}} from home on election day, as well as for any woman unable to travel "by reason of her health". [[Colony of Victoria|Victoria]] passed a similar law in 1899, and the first federal postal voting legislation was also modelled on the 1896 South Australian act.<ref name=aitkin/>

====Procedure====
Postal voting at a federal level is governed by the ''[[Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918]]'' and administered by the [[Australian Electoral Commission]] (AEC). Postal votes are available to those who will be absent from their [[Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives|electoral division]] through travel, or who those are unable to attend a polling booth due to illness, infirmity, "approaching childbirth", [[carer|caring]] responsibilities, reasonable fears for their safety, religious beliefs, imprisonment, status as a silent elector, or employment reasons.<ref>Schedule 2—Grounds of application for postal or pre‑poll vote: {{cite news|url=https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00103|title=Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918|publisher=Federal Register of Legislation|date=27 May 2020|access-date=27 May 2020|archive-date=2 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202030029/https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00103|url-status=live}}</ref>

Eligible voters may make a postal vote application (PVA) prior to each election, or apply for status as a "general postal voter" and receive a postal ballot automatically. Postal voters receive their ballot(s) and a prepaid envelope containing their name and address, as well as a predetermined security question from the PVA. Voters are required to sign the envelope and provide the correct answer to the security question. They are also required to have a witness sign and date the envelope.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/Publications/easy-read/files/vote-mail-easy-eng.pdf|title=How to vote by mail: easy to read guide|publisher=Australian Electoral Commission|access-date=27 May 2020|archive-date=7 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407204725/https://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/Publications/easy-read/files/vote-mail-easy-eng.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2016, postal votes were able to be received and entered into the count up to 13 days after election day. Following the 2016 election, it was observed that the strict scrutiny process afforded to postal votes was a "significant contributor" to delays in declaring the results of close elections.<ref name = "Muller"/>