bobbyftm

New to this situation so was wondering as we have friends from the Northside of Brissy staying down at our house for the weekend (we're going to Straddie for the day on Saturday) is it at all possible for them to vote at one of our polling booths down this way or is it mandatory to vote in the suburb/ constituency you live in ? Or better still could we all vote over at Straddie when we get there ?

Many thanx

sassie

Yes they can vote at any polling booth. If its not in their own electorate they can cast an absent vote. alternatively, you can cast an early vote at any nominated early voting venue. Not sure there will be too many polling booths on Straddie though!

MartinLuther

Remember they close the polls earlier here than in the UK.

You won't be able to nip in after a few in the pub

Pollyana

Its a real problem for some people -we were talking about it today. anyone on a day shift for us doesn't get the chance to vote - 12 hour shift, 6 till 6.30, no chance to get to a polling station and unless you can be sure in advance and get a postal vote you've had it.

MartinLuther

You can pre-vote as well. I did it on Monday as I'll be away on the day.

MartinLuther

What I thought was funny from the last election was that they called the winner before the WA polls had closed.

Pollyana

Just says it all really! I am soooo glad I'm only PR!

MartinLuther

That's the problem of parliamentary democracy.

The other odd thing about the last election was that Vic didn't feature at all. It seems to be the land of safe seats. I think only 1 possibly 2 seats changed hands.

Most of the action seemed to be in Qld. I presume that they'll all be switching back as Queenslanders don't like Victorians being in charge. They'd rather have one of their own screw things up

Swerv-o

I really missed the whole concept of lining up the candidates and reading out the respective counts at the end of the count. The predicted winner based on votes cast so far is much less dramatic than the UK, and you don't get that 'Portillo moment' when a heavyweight loses their seat.

I was looking forward to watching John Howard lose his seat, and it just never really happened in a dramatic and exciting way


S

MartinLuther

I agree.

I guess the difference is because they release numbers as the count goes on. So they will show who's in the lead after (say) 60% of the votes have been counted. Whereas in the UK it's a complete surprise.

bcworld

Yup...I'd have loved to have seen Howard standing up there losing his seat...a half hearted concession speech the next day doesn't really cut it!

Petals

If one is in a safe seat like ours you can do what you like it will be the same outcome

Victoria is definitely more settled and do not vote on headlines hence not much change.

bobbyftm

Thanks folks i shall pass on the info