Getup successfully challenged the rules that closed the electoral rolls early:
http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1281062105Now they have won the right to enroll online:
Federal Court allows enrolling onlinehttp://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/federal-court-allows-enrolling-online/story-fn59niix-1225905094378
AUSTRALIANS will be allowed to enrol to vote online
The decision came after the Federal Court yesterday found the electoral commissioner had erred in disallowing a would-be voter who signed an enrolment form with a digital pen.
For the second time in a week, the activist group GetUp! is celebrating a landmark court victory after judge Nye Perram ruled that 19-year-old Sydney student Sophie Trevitt should be added to the electoral roll, having signed up via the group's website, ozenrol.com.au.
The site, launched last month, enables users to sign an online application form with a computer trackpad, mouse or digital pen. The form is then faxed to the Australian Electoral Commission.
It was subsequently shut down after the AEC declared that handwritten signatures were required.
The Federal Court yesterday upheld a joint challenge by GetUp! and Ms Trevitt on the basis that the enrolment method satisfied the criteria set out in the Electronic Transactions Act.
That legislation deems that digitally constructed signatures are valid so long as a reliable method is used to identify a person and to indicate his or her approval.
Describing the decision as "historic", GetUp! national director Simon Sheikh called on the AEC to set up its own system of online enrolment in time for the Victorian state election in November.
"Today we have proven that in this country, enrolments can be submitted online. With 1.4 million Australians not on the electoral role this year, we need to do everything we can to get bureaucracy and red tape out of the way," Mr Sheikh said.
"But we didn't do this so third parties could get involved in the enrolment process. We believe now the AEC must act very quickly before the Victorian state election to produce a safe and secure system of online enrolment."
Ms Trevitt, a law student at Sydney University who lives in the electorate of Grayndler, in Sydney's inner west, is now eligible to vote on August 21.
"As a young person in my first election, obviously I'm really excited at the prospect of having a voice," Ms Trevitt said.
Last week, GetUp! successfully challenged the Howard government's changes to the electoral act, which limited the time people had to enrol to vote after an election was called.
In overturning those changes on constitutional grounds in the High Court, more than 100,000 people have been added to the rolls for next week's election.