The Australian Bureau of Statistics has issued its first update on the progress of the marriage equality postal survey, confirming that well over 50% of enrolled Australians have already mailed in their forms. But there is still a long, long way to go yet.
The first set of figures released by the ABS a short time ago puts the total number of ballots received by the department at an estimated 9.2 million, representing 57.5% of the total electoral roll.
That number is not conclusive, however, and is based largely on the bulk weight of the containers of returned forms, and is not an individual count of the forms themselves. The number also does not represent any forms that may currently be in the mail en route to the ABS.
This is the first of what is set to be weekly updates on the raw number of survey forms received that the ABS will be releasing.
This official figure is well below that estimate by various news polls published yesterday, which suggested as much as 77% of the country could have already mailed back their survey forms.
ABS Deputy Statistician Jonathan Palmer issued a statement along with today’s official estimates, asserting that they should serve as a reminder for Australians yet to mail their vote in to do so as soon as humanly possible.
We hope that this update will serve as a reminder to those who have not submitted their form to do so promptly if they wish to have their say.
If you haven’t received your form, or your form is lost or damaged, please contact us via our website and we will send you a new one.
If you can’t access the internet, call the Information Line on 1800 572 113 (open 8am to 8pm local time seven days a week) or visit a capital city or regional form pick-up location.
Requests for new survey forms will close 6pm (local time) on Friday, 20 October 2017.
Polls released yesterday indicates that the YES campaign holds a significant edge in the debate, but today’s figures are a sobering reminder that there is an ocean of work still to be done before the final result is revealed on November 15th.
Please, call your friends, families, co-workers, neighbours, whoever, and calmly remind them to send in their forms if they haven’t done so already.
Let’s get this done, friends.
