Early Voting Commences for Australia's General Election

Canberra, April 22 (NationPress) The early voting phase for Australia's general election kicked off on Tuesday, with nearly half of the nation's 18 million registered voters anticipated to submit their ballots prior to the official election day on May 3.

Numerous early voting locations across Australia opened at 8:30 a.m. local time, marking the final push of the election campaign.

The trend of Australians opting for early voting, whether in-person or via mail, has been on the rise during recent federal elections, climbing from below 20 percent in 2004 to nearly 50 percent in 2022.

Voting is compulsory for over 18 million citizens aged 18 and above who are registered with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). The AEC reported a record-high voter enrollment of 98.2 percent for the upcoming May 3 election, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Despite the significant number of early votes, AEC personnel are not permitted to begin counting until the polls close at 6 p.m. local time on May 3.

Jill Sheppard, a senior lecturer in politics and international relations at the Australian National University, noted that the increase in early voting may be linked to the convenience of pre-polling and a growing sense of disengagement among voters from political parties and campaigns.

On April 21, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese remarked that the upcoming general election remains “up for grabs,” despite polls indicating that his Labour Party is poised for a second term.

The campaign resumed just a day before early voting commenced nationwide on Tuesday, allowing millions of Australians to bypass long lines to fulfill their mandatory voting obligations. This came after several new opinion polls indicated that Labour had widened its lead over the Coalition.

The latest Newspoll, released by News Corp Australia on Sunday, showed Labour leading with a 52–48 margin over the Coalition on a two-party preferred basis.

A separate survey from the Australian branch of YouGov published on Friday indicated Labour ahead at 53–47, marking the government's most robust two-party result in 18 months, according to Xinhua news agency.

Labour previously secured victory in the 2022 general election with a 52.13–47.87 lead over the Coalition based on two-party preferences.

When asked on Monday if Labour was in a favorable position to win the election, Albanese highlighted lessons learned from 2019, when polls had widely predicted a Labour win, only for the Coalition to achieve a surprising third term in what former PM Scott Morrison celebrated as a “miracle” on election night.

“There’s no complacency from my camp,” Albanese told reporters in New South Wales. “This election is certainly up for grabs.”

Dutton, who announced on Monday that a Coalition government would allocate 750 million Australian dollars ($482 million) towards a crackdown on crime, including a national sex offenders registry, also referenced the 2019 election when discussing the polls.

“Not many anticipated a Coalition victory in 2019. A lot of people were preoccupied with work and life. Many Australians were unaware an election was approaching,” he stated in Melbourne.

“We can decisively win the election from this point.”

When Australians visit polling stations nationwide, they do so on a preferential basis, designating their top choice among candidates in their local electorate whom they wish to see represent them in the lower house of federal parliament.

If no candidate in an electorate garners a majority of first preference votes, the candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated, and their votes are redistributed according to the preferences indicated by individual voters.

Australia is divided into 150 electorates, each containing approximately equal numbers of voters. Labour enters the election holding 77 seats in the lower house, while the Coalition has 53. Some electorates have as many as 13 candidates contesting.

The Newspoll released on Sunday found that 34 percent of participants intended to vote for their Labour candidate as their first preference—the highest since January 2024—while 35 percent favored the Coalition. Meanwhile, the YouGov poll reported both major parties tied at 33 percent.

Labour has traditionally garnered fewer first preference votes than the Coalition but has fared better in terms of preferences. In 2022, Labour secured 32.5 percent of first preference votes compared to 35.7 percent for the Coalition, yet benefited from over 85 percent of votes from the Greens, Australia’s third-largest party.