The opening votes have officially been made ahead of this year's Wagga City Council election.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Pre-poll voting got under way on Monday, with Wagga voters being encouraged to vote early this year due to COVID-19.
As a result of the pandemic, all voters are now eligible to vote before election day and there has also been expanded eligibility for postal voting, online voting and telephone voting.
Wagga returning officer Marjorie Kenna said there was a "steady flow" of voters through the doors on Monday.
"The day went quite well I think," she said. "There was the initial rush of getting things set up and people coming in but it's not really busy yet and there isn't queues out the door or anything."
IN OTHER NEWS:
Wagga voters have the choice of two pre-polling stations across the city - the Returning Office at 72 Fitzmaurice Street and the Riverina Business Enterprise Centre at 66 Coleman Street.
Both stations will be open between 9am and 5pm from Monday to Friday up until December 4 election day.
Ms Kenna said residents might choose to pre-poll because they will be away during the election or because they want to avoid the election day crowds.
"They might be out of area, they might be on holdiays and we've also had a lot of people who are going to be in the middle of harvest on election day," she said.
"Pre-polling saves you from the long queues on election day and the more you get done earlier the smoother things will be on the day."
Residents are required to sign in to the pre-polling centres either through a QR code or the manual procedure and all residents will be permitted to enter - regardless of their vaccination status.
Ms Kenna said extra precautions had been put in place to help protect against COVID.
"The polling booths have a plastic mat which gets wiped after each voter has made their votes and we're also asking people to make sure to sanitise their hands and wear masks," she said.
Candidates have also been hit with new rules and regulations for the unique election.
No signage is permitted within six metres of the entrance to the polling booth and "how to vote" cards and other election material cannot be handed out within a 100 metre radius.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark dailyadvertiser.com.au
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters