FLYING POLLING BOOTHS ARE A HIT

Remote polling at Blackstone-Papulankutja. Photo WA Electoral Commission.

A good proportion of voters in remote communities were taking advantage of the ‘fly-in-fly-out’ mobile polling teams that visited for just a few hours at a time, WA Electoral Commissioner Robert Kennedy said.

He said postal voting was not a good option for people in remote communities.

“I’m told that for a lot of those communities out there, their mail comes through Alice Springs, which just adds to the complications in terms of getting ballot papers to them and then back to us,” he said. “So we’ve been doing this for several elections now where we fly a small team of people in a chartered aircraft out to the communities, and they’re there for a couple of hours. Whoever turns up in those particular communities on those days and they are enrolled to vote, we’re very happy to take their vote from them.”

The two-week remote polling program, ahead of the 17 September by-election, started on Tuesday.

By polling day, two electoral teams will have visited 12 remote communities in the Pilbara, Gascoyne and Mid West.

The North West Central District is WA’s largest electorate, covering more than 820,000 square kilometres, stretching from Kalbarri to Pannawonica and east to the State border.

The schedule of remote polling visits for this by-election is as follows:

• Tjirrkarli: September 6

• Warburton: September 6

• Wingellina (Irrunytju): September 7

• Pia Wadjari: September 8

• Blackstone (Papulankutja): September 8

• Jameson (Mantamauru): September 9

• Tjukurla: September 10

• Warburton: September 11

• Warakurna: September 12

• Wanarn: September 13

• Wakathuni: September 13

• Burringurrah: September 14

• Gascoyne Junction: September 15