Aaron Bunch Journalist with Australian Associated Press | Collection of published work | + 61 484 008 119 | abunch@aap.com.au
Concern over voter turnout in remote NT
About 18 per cent of voters have already cast their ballot in the Northern Territory election but low voter turnout in remote areas is causing concern.
August 14, 2020
With eight days to go until the Northern Territory election, almost a fifth of eligible voters have already cast their ballot.
But low voter turnout in remote Top End areas has caused concern, the Northern Territory Electoral Commission says.
“Of the 51 communities visited so far, 15 of those with an enrolment number of 50 or above have recorded voter turnouts of less than 50 per cent,” Commissioner Iain Loganathan said.
“One example was in Kaltukatjara (southwest of Alice Springs), where there are 272 people on the roll but only 85 voted”.
Official polling day is August 22 but early voting started on Monday with remote voting teams heading to the NT’s smallest communities first.
In the week ahead the mobile polling booths will visit 100 larger communities.
“Hopefully in the bigger communities, such as Maningrida (in the heart of the Arnhem Land ) and Wadeye (southwest of Darwin), there will be strong turnouts,” Mr Loganathan said.
As of Friday morning, 18 per cent of registered Territorians have cast their vote, which equates to 25,369 votes out of the 141,225 people on the electoral roll.