WITH just one day to go until election day, nearly one in four regional voters have already cast their vote, with pre-poll figures tracking way above previous ballots.
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The six pre-poll voting centres across New England had recorded more than 21,000 votes up to Wednesday afternoon, with Thursday figures, due to be released on Friday, expected to show another surge in the numbers of people voting early in the 2016 election.
Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) figures show that Tamworth voters have led the charge to the ballot box and, with the latest figures due out today, should show the Darling St centre passed the 2013 pre-poll figure of 11,115 total sometime n Thursday morning.
Postal votes are estimated at nearly 7500.
The Tamworth voting numbers come as the electoral commission released figures on Thursday that showed some 2.2 million electors across the country had already voted – surpassing the 2013 figure of 1.5 million.
The pre-poll centres are open for the last day on Friday,and there’s expected to be a big surge ahead of school holidays, which begin for public schools on Friday.
Tamworth has reported nearly twice as many pre-poll votes cast so far in Armidale, and while early voting didn’t start at Inverell until Monday, the locals seem to have embraced it, with nearly 2500 in three days.
At Tenterfield, over 550 voters cast early votes on the first day that centre opened on Wednesday.
The Tamworth early voting centre is open from 8.30am to 6pm for the last day and it will only be open for interstate votes on election day.
There’s 95 booths across the New England electorate on Saturday, with 12 centres in suburban Tamworth.
Tamworth High, East Tamworth Primary and the TRECC centre at the Longyard are traditionally the three biggest booths in the city.
Again, as in recent past elections, there is no voting at Tamworth town hall – it has not been a polling centre for about nine years, but each election voters still turn up expecting to be able to do it there.
New England this year has 111,746 enrolled voters, up nearly 10,000 on the 2013 poll figure. Election analysts expect record numbers of people will cast their ballots early this year and beat the 27 per cent of pre-poll votes cast nationally at the last election.
