Early voting for the Western Australian State election is on in earnest.
Already over 50,000 Western Australians have voted at early voting centres, a significant increase compared with the same stage at the last State election.
This follows legislative changes which relaxed the eligibility requirements for voting early.
“Electors can now vote early if they want to, they no longer need to give a reason,” Electoral Commissioner David Kerslake said.
Having a longer period available for early voting appears to appeal to the convenience of electors and is more in keeping with modern lifestyles, with more people working at weekends than in past years.
Over the last couple of days the number of votes cast at early voting centres has increased substantially.
“If that trend continues, we expect the overall level of early voting to be significantly higher than the last State election”, Mr Kerslake said.
Over 150,000 postal vote applications have also been received by the Commission.
Mr Kerslake advised anyone needing to vote by post to get their application in as soon as possible to allow time for ballot material to be posted out.
Postal vote applications can be lodged directly via the Commission’s website which also has details of the locations of early voting centres.
Election Day is Saturday 11 March.