More than 8000 Gilmore residents failed to vote at last month’s Federal Election, which sitting member Ann Sudmalis won by just over 1500 votes.
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The Australian Electoral Commission website revealed only 107,611 voters of the 115,984 enrolled in Gilmore actually made it to the polling booths.
In total, 8373 Gilmore residents or 7.2 per cent didn’t vote.
In Gilmore 92.78 per cent of people voted, down from 94.27 per cent in 2013.
However, the 2013 comparison is not reflective of participation because the redistribution undertaken altered the size of the division.
There was also 4079 or 4.13 per cent of informal votes cast, down from 5.17 per cent in 2013.
Mrs Sudmalis was returned despite a 3.05 per cent swing against her, winning by 1503 votes in the two party preferred over a Labor candidate Fiona Phillips.
Mrs Sudmalis recorded 52,336 votes to Mrs Phillips’ 50,833.
The local electorate followed the national trend with a down turn of voting at the election.
Nationally, it was the lowest voter turnout since compulsory voting began in 1925.
More than 1.4 million Australians failed to cast a vote for the House of Representatives in what ultimately became a cliff-hanger election.
The figure represents more than nine per cent of 15.7 million eligible voters.
The turnout is the worst since 1922, when voting was optional and just 59 per cent of eligible people cast a lower house vote.
Voter turnout is calculated by dividing the sum of formal and informal votes by the final enrolment figure.
In the Senate contest, 8.1 per cent of people failed to vote – a slightly better result than that for the lower house.
An Australian Electoral Commission spokesman said the discrepancy came about because some people casting absentee votes wrongly identified the electorate they were enrolled in.
After each election, the AEC asks all apparent non-voters to provide a sufficient reason or pay a $20 penalty. If the fine is not paid and no reason is given, the matter may be referred to a court and those found guilty can be fined up to $180 plus court costs.
New Senate voting rules at last month's poll meant voters were required to either number at least six boxes above the line, or at least 12 boxes below the line.
There was criticism after the election that voters were confused about the changes, which could have affected the outcome of tight contests. The informal vote rate in the Senate – 3.94 per cent – was only slightly higher than at the last election, suggesting the vast majority of people complied with the new rules.