Could election days be a thing of the past?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In the state election, more than two-thirds of Inverell voters had cast their vote before last Saturday's official polling day.
The numbers show that more than 6400 votes were dropped into the ballot box in the week leading up to the election and just 2834 people voted at the three polling places, over the 10 hours on Saturday.
"The booths were deadly quiet," Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall said. "You could almost see the tumbleweeds blowing around because there was just no-one there because over two-thirds of Inverell voted prepoll."
And he said the increasing number of people voting early could make election day completely redundant.
"I can see a time, whether it's next election or the one after, where we actually don't have a polling day anymore," Mr Marshall said, "and we have a voting period of four or five days where anyone can vote at anytime during those days, or if you can't make it, you postal vote or vote online."
While the early voting centres are a convenience for many voters, Mr Marshall admitted that it did make it harder for candidates and parties, who have to find more volunteers for a lot more hours.
"It makes it hard for everyone because when prepoll is open for a fortnight, and it's open when people are working.
"Polling day is a bit easier to find volunteers in large numbers because it's a Saturday, and while some people are working, a lot of people can spare a couple of hours on a Saturday to help out, when they can't between 9 and 5, Monday to Friday."
The trend for early voting is also changing the dynamic of election campaigns.
In the past, candidates and major parties would save all the big announcements for the last couple of weeks in the lead up to election day, but that can no longer happen.
"Now they have to make all those announcements much earlier because so many people vote weeks out from the actual polling day."
