Early Voting Begins on Australia’s Indigenous Voice Referendum

Facts

• Early voting began on Monday in the Northern Territory, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia as part of a referendum on whether an Indigenous advisory body to Australia's parliament will be enshrined in the country's constitution.¹
• Due to a public holiday in the remaining parts of the country, the start of early voting in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia did not begin until Tuesday.²
• Polling stations will be open nationwide until Oct. 11 at 6pm local time during the two-week early voting period ahead of the Oct. 14 referendum, so as to allow voters meeting specific eligibility criteria to cast a ballot before the official date.³
• This news comes a week after the Australian Electoral Commission dispatched teams to collect votes from Australians residents living in isolated areas, kicking off the remote voting process.⁴
• Australian referendums require a double majority to be successful, meaning more than 50% of the voting public and half of states must vote to approve it. Voting is compulsory for all Australian citizens, aged 18 and above, who have registered to vote.⁵
• Though the Australian Financial Review last week published a survey showing that the No vote had a 17-point lead over Yes, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed optimism that the referendum will pass.⁶

Sources: ¹Guardian, ²BBC News, ³Skynews, ⁴News.com.au, ⁵Daily Mail and ⁶Al Jazeera.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by CNN. A Yes vote for the Indigenous Voice referendum is a pathway toward a shared and common future, while a No vote would reaffirm that Indigenous people don’t matter and that they lack societal and governing status. This can only reiterate the hurt that First Nations people have suffered through generations of discrimination, exclusion, and outright theft.
• Narrative B, as provided by NBC. Some Indigenous groups that are disenfranchised and uninterested in the constitutional change will have their hard-fought sovereignty destroyed if the new parliamentary voice is ratified, as it will attempt to assimilate and fold them into a colonial template. Only a No vote will leave their independence to govern their people in tact.

Predictions