Experts Call for Digital Shift Amid Rising Election Waste

Australia’s biggest election yet: 100k staff, 250k pencils, 80k ballot boxes, 1.4 million plastic security seals.

A voting booth for the Brisbane City Council election in Calamvale in the south of Brisbane, Australia on March 16, 2024. Daniel Teng/The Epoch Times

Australia’s federal election has generated a record amount of paper, plastic, and cardboard waste, prompting experts to call for a shift to more sustainable—and possibly digital—voting methods.

The Australian Electoral Commission says it prints around 55 million ballot papers, 25,000 copies of the electoral roll, and 12 million household guides. Along with that are 250,000 pencils and 250,000 strings for those pencils.

There are also 80,000 cardboard ballot boxes, 1.4 million plastic security seals, and 20,000 lanyards—all of which will eventually head to a recycling station or landfill.

It does not just happen once every three years at a federal election but is repeated on a smaller scale for every state and territory election and, on a larger scale, for every council and shire.

The problem is only going to get bigger as the population grows: the 2025 federal election was Australia’s biggest yet, with 710,000 more people on the electoral roll than in 2022.

Calls for Reform

The growing scale of elections has prompted calls to explore waste-minimising alternatives.

Professor of Information Sciences at RMIT University, Lisa Given, thinks it’s time to consider a more efficient approach to creating, using, recycling, and disposing of election materials, including possibly switching to online voting.

“We need to think creatively about this,” Professor Given said. “I’m of the view that if I can do my banking online and it’s relatively secure, there must be a way for that to be scaled to other industries.”

Mandatory ID Card a Prerequisite

She pointed to Estonia, which has offered secure online voting since 2005. In 2023, over half of Estonian voters opted to vote online.

However, it relies on a mandatory ID card, which also allows Estonians to access a range of services, including accessing health records, government services, and secure digital signatures.

Australians are required to vote in person, so online voting would require changes to the law.

“I think what we want to see is that the government actually decides, ‘Hey, we should explore this and see what’s possible,’” Given said.

Current Efforts and Limitations

Some Australian jurisdictions have begun experimenting with digital tools. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Electoral Commission uses electronic voting and counting systems for Legislative Assembly elections. Voters still have the option to cast a paper ballot.

In New South Wales (NSW), the Electoral Commission has issued a formal request for information (RFI) on internet voting systems, but for now, the technology will be available only to an estimated 4,000 blind or low-vision voters in the state at the 2027 state election.

Environmental Costs Beyond Paper

Others argue that while digital voting remains controversial, Australia could take simpler steps to reduce election waste.

University of Adelaide political analyst Clem Macintyre said he was “not a fan” of online voting, citing global concerns about electoral integrity.

“I think while we’ve got the mood around the world where the results of elections that appear clear-cut and honest are doubted, the more physical evidence you can show for an outcome, the better,” he said.

However, he would favour a ban on corflute signs—many of which are not recycled—similar to that imposed by South Australia, and an end to how-to-vote cards.

“They’re generally single-use, and the more that we can just stop creating them, the better off the environment is going to be,” he said.

Most councils require corflutes to be collected within seven days of an election, but no rules govern their reuse or disposal.

While they are made from recyclable polypropylene, a lightweight plastic, most recycling facilities do not accept them.

In 2019, India’s election commission directed parties to eliminate single-use plastic, including corflutes.

AAP contributed to this story.