Voting in the ACT's coastal port of Jervis Bay has halved amid community outrage that residents were not properly advised of the abolition of their polling booth.
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The residents, who elect a representative for the ACT division of Fenner, are adamant they did not receive the correct notification that they were required to vote the day before the federal election.
Just 64 people cast their votes at the mobile polling booth which set up in the community for a day on Friday, July 1, the eve of this year's election.
In 2013, two polling places were available on election day in the isolated community. One was in Jervis Bay Village and the other in the nearby Indigenous community of Wreck Bay. Those two booths collected a combined total of 116 votes at the 2013 election.
A spokesman for the Australian Electoral Commission said letters were sent to "addresses in Jervis Bay" in April.
Residents do not have individual mailboxes, but are instead required to pick up mail at the Jervis Bay Village post office.
"[The letters] advised occupants of the polling places that would operate during the 2016 federal election for the division of Fenner," the spokesman said.
However, Jervis Bay Village resident Mary Baseler said she received one letter she described as a 'how to vote', which listed the polling places in north Canberra but did not mention Jervis Bay, any changes or the new arrangements.
Ms Baseler said voting was a privilege and a right in Australia, and one she took very seriously.
"To be able to vote is an important thing," Ms Baseler said.
"It was only because I heard a rumour that I knew about the changes, on the day I was supposed to vote," she said.
"I had to bolt down to Wreck Bay, luckily I had a car because I missed the opportunity at the school."
Ms Baseler said no public transport was available for anyone without a car to travel to the nearest interstate polling booth in Nowra – about an hour's return drive, and there was no post office at Wreck Bay for the Indigenous community to easily access for postal voting.
"This needs to be taken seriously," she said. "They say it was only a handful of people, but when the election is so close, it is not good enough."
Member for Fenner Andrew Leigh said he visited the community on the Tuesday before the election.
"The AEC had previously informed my office that the Wreck Bay and Jervis Bay booths were included in the mobile polling lists, and also let me know when the booths were placed on the 'discontinued' booths list earlier in the year.
"While I presumed the AEC would have notified the Wreck Bay and Jervis Bay communities of this change, I sent every resident a postal vote application so they could vote without having to travel.
"Voting is a precious right and every Australian should be able to have their say," Dr Leigh said.
