Thousands of Illawarra residents had their driver’s licences or car registrations suspended after failing to vote at the 2011 NSW election.
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Across the five Illawarra electorates, 2000 people who failed to cough up the $55 fee for not voting had their licences or registration suspended.
The Wollongong electorate was the worst offender with 569 people copping suspensions – nearly 25 per cent of the total Illawarra figure.
Shellharbour came in second with 543 people neglecting the fine, followed by 326 in Kiama and 319 in Keira.
Heathcote – which had a high voter turnout – had the fewest number of people losing their licences or registration with just 243.
People who fail to vote at NSW elections and provide a suitable explanation for not fronting the polls face a fine.
But those who elect to ignore the penalty notices they receive from the NSW Electoral Commission can find themselves in more hot water.
Their details are then sent to the State Debt Recovery Office, which can result in penalties such as the cancellation or suspension of a driver’s licence or car registration.
In these cases, the punishment is not for failing to vote but for not paying a fine.
A spokeswoman for the Office of State Revenue (OSR) said these unpaid fines were pursued ‘‘using the same range of enforcement sanctions provided by the Fines Act 1996’’.
‘‘These include Roads and Maritime sanctions – licence suspension and vehicle registration cancellation – property seizure orders and garnishee orders,’’ the spokeswoman said.
‘‘As well as paying the fine, a person can apply for time to pay at any time to avoid these sanctions.’’
The licence or registration would not be returned until an effort was made to repay the fine.
The OSR spokeswoman said across the state, 46,963 RMS sanctions were put in place in order to recover unpaid ‘‘fail to vote’’ fines issued in relation to the 2011 state election.
