Customer Service Charter

What we do

We are an independent and impartial body established under Victoria's Electoral Act 2002.

We hold:

  • State elections
  • Local Council elections
  • Polls and fee for service elections (these include some statutory, community and commercial groups)

We also:

  • maintain the register of Victorian electors (the electoral roll) - the electoral roll is generated from this register at the time of State or local government elections.
  • promote public awareness and understanding of electoral issues
  • conduct electoral research
  • support the Electoral Boundaries Commission
  • administer Victoria’s political funding and donations disclosure rules.

This policy covers:

  • Independence: acting with impartiality and integrity
  • Accountability: transparent reporting and effective stewardship of resources
  • Innovation: shaping our future through creativity and leadership
  • Respect: consideration of self, others and the environment
  • Collaboration: working as a team with partners and communities.

Our vision

All Victorians actively participate in their democracy.

Our values

  • Independence: acting with impartiality and integrity
  • Accountability: transparent reporting and effective stewardship of resources
  • Innovation: shaping our future through creativity and leadership
  • Respect: consideration of self, others and the environment
  • Collaboration: working as a team with partners and communities.

Our purpose

To deliver high quality, accessible electoral services with innovation, integrity, and independence.

Our customer service commitment

  • Provide services that are high quality, accessible and inclusive.
  • Deliver customer service that is approachable, meaningful, accountable, and valuable.
  • Support voters understand the role of VEC and the role they play in the election process.

To show our customer focus, we will:

  • acknowledge and assist visitors to our reception counter
  • answer telephone calls as fast as possible
  • get your call to the right team with minimal call transfers
  • return telephone messages within one working day, or within an agreed timeframe
  • provide an acknowledgement to an email within 2 working days of receipt and respond within 10 days (or an agreed timeframe)
  • acknowledge written queries within 3 to 5 working days of receipt and respond within 10 days (or an agreed timeframe)
  • acknowledge in person queries and resolve them within 3 to 5 working days. We may ask you to put your query in writing so we can direct it to the right team to respond
  • acknowledge or respond to social media queries (direct messages, comments and tags) within one working day
  • train and empower customer-focused staff to respond to your enquiries.

We will:

  • keep our communication simple and use plain language wherever possible
  • actively listen
  • be open and transparent
  • be timely and relevant
  • engage with you in appropriate ways.

We to support access to information, we will:

  • provide accurate, relevant and timely information on our website and when you contact us
  • ensure content on our website is written in plain English, is accurate and relevant to your needs
  • ensure that our website is intuitive and easy to navigate.

To handle customer feedback and complaints, we will:

  • review your feedback or complaint in line with our complaints policy
  • treat your information in line with our privacy policy and relevant legislation
  • confirm we have received your complaint and give you a case number
  • assign your case to one of our staff to investigate
  • aim to respond to your complaint within five days or provide you with a status update after ten days if it takes us longer to investigate.

For more information, please refer to our website at vec.vic.gov.au/about-us/complaints.

To promote accessibility, we will:

  • provide access to an interpreter if you need one
  • provide information in accessible formats and languages
  • provide accessible voting services at State and local council elections, including
    • provide information about voting centre accessibility on our website
    • ensure that there is at least one fully accessible voting centre or early voting centre in each district that can provide maximum access to voters
  • ensure our reception team are communication access accredited.

To deliver high quality, effective and accountable services, we will:

  • provide information that is easy to access
  • maintain the register of Victorian electors.

As part of our commitment to consultation and engagement, we will:

  • promote active participation by Victorians in their democracy
  • work with communities who experience barriers, including;
    • Aboriginal peoples
    • people from diverse language and cultural backgrounds
    • people with disabilities
    • people experiencing homelessness
    • people in prison, and
    • young people.

As part of our commitment to ongoing review and evaluation, we will:

  • assess stakeholder satisfaction with the delivery of our election services
  • debrief and review our election performance after each major electoral event
  • review our processes, systems and policies, and make changes if needed.

To uphold your privacy, we will:

  • protect your personal information and only use it for the right reasons
  • uphold the secrecy of the ballot
  • handle all personal information in line with our privacy policy and relevant legislation.

Find out more on our website at vec.vic.gov.au/privacy.

How you can help us

You can help us to resolve your queries by:

  • making sure you update your enrolment details if you change your address
  • providing us with accurate, relevant and timely information
  • showing respect and courtesy when engaging with our staff
  • complying with legal requirements
  • providing us with feedback on our services.

Our commitment to ongoing improvement

If you have any feedback on this Charter or our compliance with it, please submit your feedback at: vec.vic.gov.au/about-us/complaints.

We will review the Charter each year as part of our commitment to ongoing improvement.

Contact the VEC

Office and mailing address:

The Victorian Electoral Commission

Level 11, 530 Collins Street (access via the tower lifts)

Melbourne Victoria 3000

Phone:

General enquiries: 131 832

From outside Victoria: +61 3 8620 1100

Enrolment enquiries: 1300 805 478

If you have failed to vote at an election: 1300 551 575

Interpreter services are also available.

For information in other languages, phone: +61 3 9209 0112

Email:

General enquiries: info@vec.vic.gov.au

Technical problems with the website: webmaster@vec.vic.gov.au

Office hours:

8:30 am - 5 pm

Monday to Friday

National Relay Service:

People who are deaf or who have a hearing or speech impairment can contact the VEC via the National Relay Service.

National Relay Service users should phone 133 677 then ask for 03 8620 1100.

Speak & Listen users (speech-to-speech relay) should phone 1300 555 727 then ask for 03 8620 1100.

Internet relay users should connect to the National Relay Service via: relayservice.gov.au and then ask for 03 8620 1100.

Feedback and complaints: vec.vic.gov.au/about-us/complaints.