Australians start applying for mail-in ballots ahead of Indigenous Voice referendum

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Voters have begun applying for mail-in ballots ahead of the Oct. 14 referendum that would create an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. Australians will vote whether to enshrine in the constitution a collection of appointed Indigenous advocates aimed at giving the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority more say on government policy. People who are unable to attend a polling booth can apply for authorities to provide them with postal ballots. The referendum needs the support of a majority of voters across the nation and in a majority of Australia’s six states for it to pass. But an opinion poll published in newspapers on Monday suggested the smallest state, Tasmania, was the only one with majority support for the Voice.