Early voters take spin out of long campaign
PREDICTIONS of a pre-poll blitz are materialising at early voting booths as Far Northerners get in quick to flex their democratic muscle.
As the first day of pre-polling comes to a close, our reporters have taken Australia’s pulse, surveying more than 2600 early voters across 31 electorates.
In Queensland, booths in Blair, Bowman, Capricornia, Dawson, Fisher, Flynn, Griffith, Groom, Herbert, Hinkler, Kennedy, Leichhardt, Lilley, McPherson, Moncrieff, Petrie and Wide Bay received a majority of first-preference votes for the Coalition (47 per cent versus 31 per cent for Labor).
Far Northern early birds that swooped on the first day of pre-polling were some of the decisive voters in the region.
They were willing to take a punt a full fortnight before the end of the election campaign and its associated pledges – and they were willing to talk.
“I voted for the Liberal National Party because I’m happy with what they’ve been doing through the pandemic,” Ken Phelps said at the Mt Sheridan Plaza booth.
In the very same spot an hour later, Lynn Webber begged to differ.
“I voted Labor. I didn’t vote for the Liberal Coalition because I felt that the states really protected us from Covid more than the federal government,” she insisted.
That voter contrast was on lurid display as the Cairns Post carried out hundreds of exit polls at four booths across Leichhardt and Kennedy.
Final numbers are still being collated with a mammoth News Corp effort to cover 80 pre-poll booths across Australia – but early patterns have emerged.
Both races could be closer than anticipated if early numbers are any indication.
Pre-polling will be in place for the next fortnight as the May 21 election creeps near.
However, it has not been all smooth sailing. Voters at Mt Sheridan Plaza complained
about a dearth of signage directing them to polling stations – and how-to-vote volunteers were similarly antsy. LNP supporter Gerry Vallianos, who stood for Mulgrave in the 2020 state election, complained volunteers had been relegated to one of the centre’s quietest entrances.
“There’s at least five entrances here at Mt Sheridan,” Mr Vallianos said.
“It’s quite frustrating for voters, not knowing how to
direct their vote for the particular party they support.”
He called on the Australian Electoral Commission to reconsider putting booths in shopping centres where possible.
“I think we would have missed 90 per cent of the voters who have voted today, easily … the AEC really should have a look at how they choose venues so that people can get access to howto-vote cards,” he said.