People across Victoria are about to cop a $99 fine for failing to vote in the local council elections unless there is a last-minute scramble to the state’s post boxes.

Votes for council elections must be in the mail by 6pm on Friday, but so far, only 61 per cent of voters have voted, according to the Victorian Electoral Commission’s latest figures.

A man walks past posters for candidates in the City of Yarra. Credit: Justin McManus

It’s easy to blame apathy about yet another election, this time for our third tier of government, but conducting the election entirely by post must also be a factor.

With no sausage sizzles, bake sales, corflutes outside the local primary school or voting day to mark in the diary, there is no sense of occasion around this election, no pressing impetus to vote.

Instead, we just had to wait for our ballot paper to land in our letterboxes, sandwiched between the junk mail and the handful of bills not delivered online.

The path to the post box is no longer a well-trodden one, with letter volumes through Australia Post falling by 11.9 per........

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