Correctional services in Australia's most populous states barred Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) staff from entering prisons to conduct voting in successive federal elections, new documents show.

Potentially thousands of prisoners were prevented from voting in the 2010, 2013 and 2016 elections due to a failure to enrol them and register their ballots.

The revelations come in the form of hundreds of AEC documents, including internal memos, emails and records, obtained by the ABC under freedom of information legislation.

The documents show the AEC went to great lengths to ensure prisoners were correctly enrolled and equipped to vote, but the efforts had little effect.

Voting stations 'a risk'

In one obtained memo, the head of Queensland Corrective Services told the AEC it would no longer allow mobile voting booths in prisons because they were "resource-consuming" and posed a danger to the personal safety of electoral officials.

"[Providing a mobile ballot booth inside prisons] has been identified as a risk to the security and good order of centres," the 2007 memo reads.

John Killick said many inmates want to vote but often do not get the chance. ( Supplied: John Killick )

Brett Collins from Justice Action, a group that advocates for the rights of prisoners, said prison managers are often wary of outsiders interfering in the day-to-day running of prisons.

"Corrective services would just prefer that prisoners were left in their cells and didn't have to have a legal entitlement to be engaged in the voting process, I think that's really underlying it," Mr Collins said.

"There are so many ways that corrective services in all states and territories make it difficult for people.

"The first to enrol, second to receive the information, and third to actually vote. All those processes work against the prisoner."

Former prisoner John Killick, best known for busting out of Silverwater Jail in a helicopter hijacked by his then girlfriend, said many inmates want to vote but often do not get the chance.

"[Prisoners] feel that if they're going back into the community, this is one of the rights that most of them that I've spoken to feel strongly about," Mr Killick said.

"[But] it's not a simple process for people in jail, and people don't go out of their way to get the prisoner and explain to them what they have to do."

You can't vote if you're not enrolled

The FOI documents show repeated attempts by the AEC to raise voter turnout among prisoners — providing information packs, directly communicating with prison managers, and organising early prisoner enrolment — had little effect.

Relatively few prisoners have exercised their democratic right to vote in recent elections. ( ABC News: Alkira Reinfrank )

In NSW, well short of 1 per cent of roughly 10,600 enrolment packs provided to NSW prisons for inmates to complete postal votes ahead of the 2013 election were completed and returned.

In Queensland, the state's corrective services department was unable to provide the AEC with a list of prisoners eligible to vote ahead of the 2016 federal election based on legal advice it had received.

Such a list would have made possible the process of enrolling prisoners not yet listed on the electoral roll.

Responsibility for enrolling prisoners to vote falls to both the AEC and prison officials, and yet many prisoners are not listed on the roll.

In Australia, prisoners serving sentences of less than three years must vote in federal elections. According to Justice Action, around 78 per cent fall into this category.

But a report in 2010 by the Victorian Electoral Commission showed that only one in four eligible prisoners in Victoria was enrolled to vote that year.

In the Northern Territory, under-enrolment is a well-documented issue among Indigenous people.

Indigenous populations are overrepresented in prisons and are 16 times more likely than their non-Indigenous counterparts to be incarcerated, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Who is responsible for prisoner turnout?

Relatively few prisoners have exercised their democratic right to vote in recent elections. The Victorian Electoral Commission report lists a number of reasons why:

Disillusionment — many prisoners believe their vote does not matter.

Disillusionment — many prisoners believe their vote does not matter. Literacy levels — many prisoners have low literacy or are from a non-English speaking background.

Literacy levels — many prisoners have low literacy or are from a non-English speaking background. Access to information — prisoners do not have access to common channels like the internet.

Mr Collins said the prison has a role to play in encouraging prisoners to vote and educating them on their democratic responsibilities.

"I think there's an embarrassment that they aren't doing what they should be doing and they're trying to shift blame between themselves and the prisoners," he said.

"[Prisoners] learn a whole range of social skills to ensure that when they are returned to the community they actually know they can do things better."

In a statement, a spokesperson said the AEC operates on the advice of the relevant correctional services agency in each state and territory and facilitates prisoner access to electoral services wherever possible within the scope provided.