QUEUES were out the door much of Wednesday as south-west residents lined up early to vote in the state election.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Victorian Electoral Commission Warrnambool office election manager Ian Sadler said it was expected that 80 to 85 percent of the region’s votes would be counted on Saturday night, with staff aiming to knock off at 10pm.
He said there were 47,000 electors in the electorate but not all would vote, including some of the elderly, those with a medical conditions or people overseas.
As of 10.30am Wednesday 13,390 had pre-polled.
Mr Sadler said 1900 people voted on Tuesday and that figure was climbing daily.
He said there could be another several thousand people vote before Friday’s closing time of 6pm.
On Thursday, the pre-polling election office at 48 Kepler Street, just down from the Capitol Theatre, will be open from 8.30am until the extended time of 8pm.
Mr Sadler said it was difficult to compare pre-poll voting trends until after the election.
"The turnout was pretty slow last week but has picked up this week," he said.
"There would be twice as many people voters today compared to early last week. For the last four or five hours we've had a queue out the door,” he said.