Ensure your polling booths open
VOTERS in Kennedy may struggle to find a voting booth come election day, the Australian Electoral Commission has revealed.
Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said the vast majority of the nation’s planned 7000 polling places would be in operation, however, a number of regional booths may be unable to open due to labour shortages. The issue was also expected to impact voters in Capricornia, Flynn and Leichhardt.
“While the impact will likely be limited, and limited to certain areas, voters in identified regional locations who have not accessed an early voting centre, or postal vote, may not have a polling venue in their town on election day,” Mr Rogers said. “The list of affected areas will reduce as we get closer to Saturday.”
Mr Rogers said the AEC had advised that recruiting difficulty could occur, with voters urged to access all options. “Current labour shortages in regional areas have been well documented,” he said. “No frontline service has been immune to resourcing difficulties and we’re running the nation’s biggest in-person, manual event.”
Mr Rogers said short of AEC staff handing out blank checks, or accommodating thousands of single-day workers in interstate locations, there was not much more that could be done.
“We’re calling on other organisations to assist as a final push and investigating all possible staffing models, including amalgamating venues,” he said. “We’re also continuing to engage with local residents in the hope they’ll put their hand up. For some people it may mean that, if you want to vote at a polling place in your town on election day, you may have to sign up to work as well.” Visit aec.gov.au/electionjobs today and fill out the registration form.