Voters turned up to cast their referendum decision at the ballot box

Across the New England region, 85,868 of the 116,060 people registered to vote headed to polling stations on Saturday, October 14.

About 21,493 had voted early, and 6,239 of the 8,699 registered for a postal vote in the region had returned their decision to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) by noon on polling day.

Polling stations will shut at 6 pm, as counting gets underway.

AEC spokesperson Pat Callanan told the Leader that if the margin is close between the "yes" and "no" camps on the night, then vote counting will continue until all postal votes have returned up to 13 days later.

"Like a federal election, we might not necessarily have a result on the night, depending on how close it is," Mr Callanan said.

The only polling station known to have a sausage sizzle in Tamworth was at the PCYC, where co-manager Sarah-Ann Whitten was serving up the "democracy sangas" with the assistance of four volunteers.

She said it had been a "highly charged day" about the "very emotive decision" to vote 'yes' or 'no', and that she'd heard quite a few people yelling out "vote no" from their cars as they drove by.

The PCYC had sold 150 sausages wrapped in bread by 1pm, and were expected to run out by about 3pm, with all money raised going to youth programs.

After having just bought their $3.50 sausages sizzles, Leah Wenman and Michael Wenman said they had voted 'yes' because they fully support improving outcomes for Aboriginal people of Australia.

"I actually used to work and live with them [Aboriginal people] for about six years," Ms Wenman said. "So, I have alot of respect for them and their elders."

Mr Wenman works at Peel High School, which he said has the highest population of Indigenous children enrolled in NSW.

"Seeing a whole heap of Indigenous students who don't necessarily have a say in their future is sad, so this is a step in the right direction," Mr Wenman said.

However, Brandon Burrell said he voted 'no' because he still did not understand the intricacies of how the Voice to Parliament would work.

"And also, I didn't want to get a fine, so I voted 'no'," Mr Burrell said.

READ ALSO:

Melissa Madgwick had just bought sausage sizzles for her two sons Spencer, 10, and Quinn, 7, after voting 'yes' at the polling booth at the PCYC.

"I don't think we should even have a referendum, it should just be done," Ms Madgwick said. "It's ridiculous they've spent all this money."

She said if the majority of citizens vote yes in a majority of states so the referendum passes, it will take time to establish the Voice to Parliament but that it is needed to "make people feel welcome and a part of the community".

Perhaps, the busiest polling booth on the day in Tamworth was at 515 Peel Street, where a security guard was assisting voters later in the day.

Nationals' MP Barnaby Joyce skipped Tamworth for a visit but cast his undoubtedly 'no' vote in the ballot box of Woolbrook before travelling through the southern part of the New England electorate visiting various polling booths, according to a spokesperson.

"We are all the time trying to keep people together, and this has been a really divisive debacle. It should have never have happened," Mr Joyce said.

He was expected to be in Canberra later in the day.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: