It goes "to the heart of Australia's democracy" that people can cast a ballot while understanding how to vote properly, the head of the state's peak multicultural body says.
Strathfield, one of Sydney's most-multicultural seats, is heading to the polls next Saturday in one of four by-elections being held statewide, after former New South Wales Labor Leader Jodi McKay stepped down as the local member last year.
To reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission, postal voting packs have, for the first time, been sent to all eligible voters.
These must be returned by Friday, February 25, by 6pm, but people also have the option of voting in person on February 12.
Chair of the Ethnic Communities' Council of NSW Peter Doukas said having a how-to-vote explainer in other languages would minimise the risk of informal voting in postal ballots.
"It goes to the heart of our democracy — it goes to the heart of people who are Australian citizens — being able to exercise their democratic rights without the need to involve other people who have stronger English than them," Mr Doukas said.
The sentiment was echoed by NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns, who said it was concerning that postal votes being sent to households in Strathfield did not contain information in languages other than English.
"We are very concerned for culturally and linguistically diverse [CALD] communities, those who do not speak English at home," Mr Minns said.
"There is no information in other languages [on how] to vote in a formal way.
"We do not want thousands of people to have their votes thrown in the bin because they missed a box or they have not signed in the correct place or they do not have a witness for their voting intentions."
'Back at square one'
Mr Doukas said that, with only a handful of seats facing a by-election, it seemed incredible such a multicultural seat had not been prioritised for multilingual information by electoral officials.
"It is unfortunate we are back at square one for understanding diversity.
"I would have expected, given that it is not a general election, the seats with a high percentage of multicultural communities would have been prioritised for information in other languages."
According to the 2016 census, the Western Sydney suburb had one of the highest concentrations of residents with a migrant background.
Data collected by the ABC also showed it had the state's second-highest proportion of residents born overseas (55.6 per cent), and the fourth-highest proportion born in a non-English speaking country (52.3 per cent).
A spokeswoman for the NSW Electoral Commission said all ballot papers in state elections must be written in English.
She said information was, however, being provided on the Commission's website.
"Information that has been sent with the postal ballot packs to all the electors for the four state by-elections includes links to our website and information about translation services," she said in a statement.
"Specific how-to-vote information about postal voting at these by-elections is being translated into Arabic, Chinese — Traditional and Simplified — Greek, Italian, Korean and Vietnamese. This information is available on our website."
The spokeswoman also said local election teams on the ground would include staff with skills in languages other than English to help people.
However, Mr Doukas maintains the information that comes with a postal ballot is the most important part.
"In my view, the information, or the explanatory memorandum, should be in a language people can understand," he said.
"It should be in a way that most communities in that electorate understands.
"The NSW Electoral Commission has that information and can prioritise the top two or three language groups in a specific seat."
Mr Minns said there had also been concern about some postal ballots not arriving in the South Coast seat of Bega.
"Many people in the Bega electorate and other seats facing a by-election have not received their postal votes yet," he said.
"That was a key COVID measure announced by the Electoral Commissioner, a way of people voting in a COVID-safe way if they felt unease about attending pre-poll or going to their local polling station on the day."
