The Electoral Act permits an elector to apply for a postal or pre-poll vote if they will not be within eight kilometres of the nearest polling place. However, many polling places are inaccessible for people with disability and the nearest accessible polling place is often much greater than eight kilometres.
The inability to apply for a postal vote disproportionately impacts people with disability in remote and rural areas and particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability who often do not have accessible transport or sufficient means to attend an accessible polling place on election day.622 The cost of delivering services to people living in remote areas is also a likely factor in limiting access to voting for some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability.623
