What does the AEC do? (and what it doesn't)

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) runs federal elections and referendums. But what else? Every election there are complaints to the AEC about candidates saying un-truths and misleading things but it actually has no power to regulate what candidates say and for a good reason - it's there to independently and apolitically run elections. But that doesn't mean the commission has no role outside of simply printing off a ballot paper and then counting the votes at the end of it - so I decided to sit down with someone from the AEC to ask them about the AEC's role, what it does, and also what it doesn't do.Of course, visit the AEC website to learn more about how elections are run in Australia: https://aec.gov.au/Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.