Australians may have a to wait longer than usual for a result in today’s Federal election because of the sheer volume of votes cast prior to polling day.
Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) spokesperson Evan Ekin-Smyth said 8.3 million of the 18.1 million Australians on the electoral roll cast their votes early with 6.7 lodging pre-poll votes and another 1.6 million lodging postal or mobile votes prior to today.
The remainder go to more than 7,000 polling places around the nation which are open from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm AEST (10:00 pm Friday to 8:00 am Saturday GMT) or local time elsewhere in Australia where 100,000 temporary staff work.
Counting begins at 6pm AEST with votes cast for the 151 House of Representatives seats given priority over the 76 seats in the Senate.
“So it is record pre-poll and there's a bit of sting in the tail with that. It effectively means that some of the count might drop on tally rooms a little bit later than usual so be patient,” said Ekin-Smyth, the AEC’s Digital Engagement Director.
Asked what time counting finished, he said: “That's always the question. It can go quite late. It can actually go into the very early hours of Sunday. We need to be conscious of our staff. They're very hard working.”
The AEC, the independent statutory agency responsible for the management and oversight of Australian elections, said the results would be updated progressively on the AEC’s Tally Room after 6pm AEST.
A link to the Tally Room will be available on the AEC website’s homepage tonight.
For more information on vote counting works on election night, read Federal election counting 101: How does it work?
