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Tens of thousands of voters hit pre-polling booths across New South Wales ahead of state election as early voting opens #Tens #thousands #voters #hit #prepolling #booths #South #Wales #ahead #state #election #early #voting #opens #englishheadline


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Tens of thousands of voters have hit polling booths early across the state ahead of the New South Wales election on March 25. 

Pre-polling kicked off for eligible NSW residents on Saturday, marking a week out from election day.

Early voting is also available next week from Monday March 20 to Friday March 24. 

Search the table below to see where you can vote ahead of the official polling day on March 25. 

NSW Electoral Commissioner John Schmidt said a projected 250,000 votes were expected to be taken on the first day of pre-polling. 

“We’ve already reached almost 70,000, so there’s strong interest out there,” he told Englishheadline Weekend Live host Jaynie Seal on Saturday morning. 

The electoral commission is expecting an earlier turn out of people to cast their votes in person this NSW state election, noting internet voting is not available this time around.

“But also, we’ve had a massive upswing in postal vote applications, so the number of people who will be sent postal votes is more than double than it was in 2019,” he said. 

Mr Schmidt said if it were to be a close election, postal votes could affect results in some seats. 

“It may well be that if seats come down to the wire, no matter what we’ve counted up on election day and shortly thereafter, it might be those last few postal votes coming in… which will determine the result,” he told Seal.

Mr Schmidt highlighted NSW “leads the country” in voting enrolments.

“We do an estimate of people who we believe would be eligible to enrol and the figures at the end of December were 98.3 per cent of that estimated population are enrolled to vote in New South Wales. 

“That’s an extraordinary figure.”

Speaking from Parramatta on the first day of pre-polling, NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns encouraged people to “vote for change”. 

“For every single vote between now and Saturday night, right up to 6pm, I’d encourage people to go and vote,” he said. 

“Make sure that your voice is heard in this democratic process.

“Our message to the people in NSW is straight forward, vote for change.”

Premier Dominic Perrottet visited Penrith on the first day of pre-polling and made his own pitch to voters.

“Today, people across our state head to the polls,” he said.

“Today, people across NSW can Vote 1 Liberal for a long-term economic plan to keep NSW moving forward, to deal with the economic headwinds, the challenges that we’re facing, with $250 off every household energy bill across NSW.”

English Headline

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