Monday 30 October – Postal vote receipt has now closed so this will be the final update. Returned postal votes represented 10.1% of enrolment, about 10.9% of votes counted. The final return rate for dispatched postal votes is 86.4%.
Saturday 14 October – final figures – At the close of early voting on Friday 13 October, 6.1 million pre-poll votes had been cast representing 34.7% of enrolled voters. A single day record of 1.1 million pre-poll votes were cast on Friday. Around 2.1 million electors had applied for a postal vote pack representing 11.7% of enrolled voters. Around 1.4 million completed postal votes have been returned. Returned postal votes represent 8.1% of enrolment or 69.3% of dispatched postal vote packs.
The final early vote figure is a record, higher than in 2022, but postal applications are lower than in 2022.
The post includes a number of graphs breaking down the figures by state and by electoral division.
Postal and Pre-poll Voting by State
Final figures Friday 13 October.
Postal Vote Return Rates by State
Final update Monday 30 October.
National Postal Vote Return Rates by Date
Pre-Poll Votes cast by Date
Note that New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT had no pre-poll voting on Monday 2 October due to a public holiday. Final figures for Friday 13 October.
Comparison of Referendum Pre-Poll Voting Rates with 2022 Federal Election
Final figures for Friday 13 October. Note that there was one fewer voting days in several states due to pubic holidays.
The chart below has the same comparison expressed as votes taken per day of pre-polling.
Postal and Pre-Poll Rates by Electoral Division
Final figures for Friday 13 October. Table can be sorted by column.
Divisions with highest early voting -
- Flinders (VIC) - 62.4%
- Hinkler (QLD) - 59.9%
- Fisher (QLD) - 58.7%
- Indi (VIC) - 58.2%
- Nicholls (VIC) - 57.9%
Divisions with lowest early applications -
- Lyons (TAS) - 30.5%
- Bass (TAS) - 33.4%
- Braddon (TAS) - 33.7%
- Parramatta (NSW) - 33.7%
- Lingiari (NT) - 34.2% (does not include remote mobile team voting)
NOTE - you can sort the table below by column.
Previous updates
Thursday 26 October - After counting on Wednesday 25 October, the returned postal votes represented 10.1% of enrolment, and as a percentage of dispatched postal votes, represented a 85.7% return rate.
Wednesday 25 October - After counting on Tuesday 24 October, the returned postal votes represented 10.0% of enrolment, and as a percentage of dispatched postal votes, represented a 85.2% return rate.
Saturday 21 October - After counting on Friday 20 October, the returned postal votes represented 9.9% of enrolment, and as a percentage of dispatched postal votes, represented a 84.2% return rate.
Friday 20 October - After counting on Thursday 19 October, the returned postal votes represented 9.8% of enrolment, and as a percentage of dispatched postal votes, represented a 83.7% return rate.
Thursday 19 October - After counting on Wednesday 18 October, the returned postal votes represented 9.7% of enrolment, and as a percentage of dispatched postal votes, represented a 82.6% return rate.
Wednesday 18 October - After counting on Tuesday 17 October, the returned postal votes represented 9.4% of enrolment, and as a percentage of dispatched postal votes, represented a 80.2% return rate.
Tuesday 17 October - this post will continue to be updated with postal vote return rates. After counting on Monday 16 October, the returned postal votes represented 8.7% of enrolment, and as a percentage of dispatched postal votes, represented a 74% return rate.Friday 13 October - At the close of early voting on Thursday 12 October, just under five million pre-poll votes had been cast representing 28.2% of enrolled voters. Around 2.1 million electors had applied for a postal vote pack representing 11.7% of enrolled voters. Around 1.3 million completed postal votes have been returned. Returned postal votes represent 7.4% of enrolment or 63.1% of dispatched postal vote packs.
Thursday 12 October - At the close of early voting on Wednesday 11 October, more than 4.2 million pre-poll votes had been cast representing 24.0% of enrolled voters. Around 2.1 million electors had applied for a postal vote pack representing 11.7% of enrolled voters. Around 1.2 million completed postal votes have been returned. Returned postal votes represent 6.6% of enrolment or 56.6% of dispatched postal vote packs.
Wednesday 11 October - At the close of early voting on Tuesday 10 October, more than 3.5 million pre-poll votes had been cast representing 20.1% of enrolled voters. Just over two million electors had applied for a postal vote pack representing 11.6% of enrolled voters. Around one million completed postal votes have been returned. Returned postal votes represent 5.8% of enrolment or 50.3% of dispatched postal vote packs.
Tuesday 10 October - At the close of early voting on Monday 9 October, just under 2.9 million pre-poll votes had been cast representing 16.3% of enrolled voters. Two million electors had applied for a postal vote pack representing 11.3% of enrolled voters. Around 820,000 completed postal votes have been returned. Returned postal votes represent 4.7% of enrolment or 41% of dispatched postal vote packs.
Sunday 8 October - At the close of early voting on Saturday 7 October, just over 2.2 million pre-poll votes had been cast representing 12.5% of enrolled voters. 1.9 million electors had applied for a postal vote pack representing 11.0% of enrolled voters. Around 650,000 completed postal votes have been returned. Returned postal votes represent 3.7% of enrolment or one-third of dispatched postal vote packs.
Saturday 7 October - At the close of early voting on Friday 6 October, just under 1.8 million pre-poll votes had been cast representing 10.0% of enrolled voters. 1.9 million electors had applied for a postal vote pack representing 10.8% of enrolled voters. Around 640,000 completed postal votes have been returned. Returned postal votes represent 3.6% of enrolment or one-third of dispatched postal vote packs.
Update Friday 6 October - At the close of early voting on Thursday 4 October, just over 1.3 million pre-poll votes had been cast representing 7.5% of enrolled voters. More than 1.7 million electors had applied for a postal vote pack representing 10.5% of enrolled voters. Just under half a million completed postal votes have been returned. Returned postal votes represent 2.8% of enrolment or 26.5% of dispatched postal vote packs.
Update Thursdy 6 October - At the close of early voting on Wednesday 4 October, 5.2% of the electors had cast a pre-poll vote and 10.1% of electors had applied for a postal vote. 1.8% of votes are returned and checked postal votes, representing 18.5% of dispatched postal votes.
Update Wednesday 4 October - At the close of early voting on Tuesday 3 October, 2.9% of the electors had cast a pre-poll vote. Postal figures including 3 October are 9.4% of electors had applied for a postal vote. The big increase in pre-poll voting on the second day was due to the opening of pre-poll voting centres in NSW, Queensland, South Australia and ACT following the long weekend.
Update Tuesday 3 October - At the close of early voting on Monday 2 October, 9.0% of voters had applied for a postal vote and 0.7% had cast a pre-poll vote on the first day of pre-poll voting. The rate of pre-poll voting was low because of a public holiday in NSW, Queensland, South Australia and ACT. Early voting is available in all states from Tuesday 3 October.
It will be interesting to see how prepoll rates each day compare to recent election prepoll rates
Antony,
I know you get asked this all the time, but in what order are the votes counted on Ref/Election Night.
Ie: is it the votes just cast on the Saturday, and then around 8PM’ish the pre-polls are added, with postal’s only added on the Monday afterwards.
Also, just a small observation but I note the youngish electorates such as Brisbane, Griffith & Wright have amongst the lowest pre polls so far (around 1.8%). Would that suggest younger voter apathy, or too early to tell.
Thanks
COMMENT: The inner-Brisbane electorate are low due to the public holiday on Monday. All polling day votes and pre-poll votes start being counted at 6pm. The order that polling places report will be heavily related to polling place size, so smaller rural booths will report first, larger city booths later, and the giant pre-poll voting centres later still.
Has there been a deliberate reduction in the access to prepolling – e.g in Melbourne CBD there is none (you have to go to North Melbourne)?
COMMENT: I have no idea.
Thks. Trust you’re doing the ABC on referendum night & hoping you can extend your skills to the NZ election same evening and provide intermittent updates. You’ll be busy. Look fwd to it.
COMMENT: I’ll be party of the ABC’s referendum night coverage. The newsroom will be doing updates of the NZ election. It’s difficult for me to follow the NZ figures while I’m doing a live referendum coverage.
Paul, another reason for the lower pre-poll rate in electorates with young people is that those voters may be more inclined to vote in person on the day rather than use pre-poll or postal voting. This is shown as election day votes tend to be better for Labor/Greens compared to pre-poll and postal votes.
Thanks for your thorough coverage Antony ~ always appreciated, and especially for the Referendum
The time difference in Queensland and particularly WA will mean the two decisive state’s votes count will come in later. Is this where a big swing to No will occur?What are your thoughts?
Hi Antony, Do you know if ballots received via a postal vote application are counted if they are formally completed and placed into a ballot box at a pre-poll or voting day centre?
COMMENT: As I understand it, you can hand in a completed postal votes at a polling place, BUT ONLY if it is SEALED in a completed postal vote declaration vote envelope. On return it will be dealt with as other postal votes. This can cause a hassle at a polling place so you may be better off posting it back. Postal votes can be accepted until Friday 27 September.
I don’t know if it is still the case, but postal ballot papers used to have “Postal Vote” printed on them which meant they couldn’t be accepted if placed directly in a ballot box.
Thank you Antony, brilliant all-encompassing coverage as usual.
Antony, do you by any chance know if the AEC has completed counting of pre-poll ballots in the referendum? I can’t find the answer on their website. Also, do those votes get absorbed into the figures reported for the voter’s “home” booth, or the booth where they cast their pre-poll vote? Thanks for your coverage – it’s absolutely brilliant that you do this.
COMMENT: All within district pre-poll voting centres have been counted. They are listed on the AEC’s website with the suffix PPVC after the polling place name. Out of district pre-polls, there are about 600,000 of them, are yet to be counted.
Antony have all prepole and postal votes now been counted and if so has it changed the 61:39 percentile?
COMMENMT: There is still a sweeping up of final votes. The count is currently 89.6% turnout. The percentages are 39.9% Yes to 60.1% No and I’m expecting that to be the final numbers.