The first set of postal vote applications arrived in the letter boxes of Monash voters last week, sent by the Liberal Party.
This coincided with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) issuing a warning to political parties about postal vote applications.
Political parties regularly distribute postal vote applications in the lead up to elections.
Electoral Commission Tom Rogers said he’d written to candidates about the distribution of postal vote applications.
“It’s legal but it is potentially misleading and we’re concerned,” he said.
Mr Rogers said concerns about postal vote applications were the number one complaint it received from voters.
“The election is an in-person event … most voters will come to a polling place so we don’t need mass distribution of postal votes.”
He said there were examples of misuse of the AEC’s standard purple colour on some of the mailouts, which suggested it was official correspondence from the AEC, when it was not.
He said he was also concerned that voters were being directed to “generically named websites en masse with the potential to mislead”.
Several parties, including Liberal and Labor have set up authorised voting websites.
While the Labor website does have a red banner and the words “Australian Labor Party”, there is no party logo.
The Liberal site has no blue branding or Liberal Party logo, instead favouring a simple black and gold layout and the words Liberal Party of Australia in smaller type above the headline.
One of the biggest concerns about political parties mailing out postal vote applications, is the return-to-sender envelope goes back to the party, not the AEC.
Before the applications are passed on, people’s details and information are harvested for the party records.
The AEC provides clear information on how to vote on its website.
“Our message couldn’t be clearer – vote in person if you can, apply for a postal vote through us if you need one,” Mr Rogers said.
Applications for postal votes can be made at www.aec.gov.au/election/pva.htm before May 18.