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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Olivia Ireland

Long lines hit Canberrans trying to pre-poll

Length of line

Lines are snaking around corners for Canberrans waiting to pre-poll on the final day before the election as voters face a 45-minute wait this afternoon.

The Moore Street pre-poll booth in the City surprised voters with its length as people expected pre-polling to be quieter than Saturday's election day.

Dooley O'Leary had just got to the end of the line and admitted he was surprised by the wait time of Friday's line.

"This might mean I'm a bit late to work today, but it's important that I get it done," he said.

"I was a little bit surprised, I drove past here earlier today and it was a little bit shorter but it's longer than I expected it to be."

Dooley O'Leary waiting at the end of the pre-polling line on Moore Street. Picture: Olivia Ireland

Lucy James had just finished work and was less surprised by the length of the line, saying she was "happily surprised" by the 45-minute wait.

"I'm not really shocked by the length, I thought it would be longer to be honest," she said.

"I just know it's going to be really long tomorrow and I'm also working tomorrow."

Lucy James waiting in line on Moore Street. Picture: Olivia Ireland

One in three Canberrans had already cast their vote for the 2022 federal election by Thursday. Almost 95,000 ACT residents had pre-polled while close to 19,000 postal votes had been returned.

On Thursday alone more than 14,500 Canberrans cast their votes for the election in a pre-poll booth across the territory.

The line for pre-polling in Woden. Picture: Elesa Kurtz

The most popular location was the Tuggeranong pre-polling centre as almost 2500 voters came through their doors.

Meanwhile, the quietest spot for ACT voting was Queanbeyan with 27 Canberrans showing up on Thursday for pre-polling.

Long lines continued to grow around Canberra on Friday, the last day for pre-polling before election day on Saturday, May 21.

Nationally almost 43 per cent of eligible Australians have voted in this election since Thursday.

Around Australia, more than four million people had cast a pre-poll vote by Thursday afternoon, with 2.68 million applying for postal before the deadline.

The ACT is still at the second highest pre-poll turnout of anywhere in Australia when the latest results were made public, tracking slightly behind the Northern Territory at more than 38 per cent.

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