Why there is no pre polling booth in Port Douglas

Queensland Election 2024

Bryan Littlely

Journalist

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Candidate volunteers Lucy Stanton, Bruce Andrews and Pam Willis Burden say there been a steady flow of early voters at the Mossman polling booth. Picture: Bryan Littlely

Port Douglas residents questioning why there has been no Pre Polling booth in the town for the Queensland State Election, meaning they have had to go to Mossman and the Shire Hall to cast their votes early, have been reminded it is no different to previous State Elections.

Volunteers outside the pre polling booth in Mossman said voter numbers started at around 200 each day from when pre polling opened on Monday October 14, and had grown to up to 400.

Their observations suggested around 95 per cent of voters were locals and there had been a lot of Port Douglas residents making the trip across to Mossman.

“Port people don’t like coming to Mossman,’’ Pam Willis Burden said.

“We’re both from Port … it’s only 10 minutes up the road,’’ she added in reference to fellow volunteer Lucy Stanton.

Along with volunteer Bruce Andrews, they said it had always been the way that Mossman was the early voting location for State Elections, while Port Douglas had hosted pre bolling booths for Federal Elections, and there was no facility in Mossman for those Elections.

An Electoral Commission Queensland spokesperson said there could be a number of reasons for not putting a pre poll in certain towns, often based on venue availability.

"The Cook electorate has one early voting centre in Mossman and will have 9 polling booths on election day, including a polling booth at the Port Douglas Community Hall, Mowbray St Port Douglas,'' the spokesperson said. 

"The ECQ considers a range of factors when identifying polling places for elections and final locations are subject to availability and can change for reasons outside the ECQ’s control.  

"The ECQ will continue to promote voting options to all Queenslanders through its extensive advertising, communications, and publicity program, which also includes additional social media posts as issues arise."  

All early voting centres and election day polling booth locations are listed on the ECQ website   here

Figures from the Electoral Commission released on Friday details that with one day left of early voting, numbers were strong.

About 150,000 people voted early on Thursday bringing the total number of early voters for the State general election to over 1.4 million.

Over 3.68 million Queenslanders are enrolled to vote in the 2024 State general election to determine the members of the Queensland Parliament for the next four years.

Local polling locations on Election Day, Saturday, October 26, include:

♦ Port Douglas Community Hall, Mowbray St, Port Douglas

♦ Mossman State School, Front Street, Mossman

♦ Wonga Beach State School, Snapper Island Drive, Wonga Beach

♦ Daintree State School, Osborne Street, Daintree

♦ Mareeba State School, Constance Street, Mareeba

 

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FINAL PITCH: Cook candidates have their say with Newsport's Q&A. FULL STORY AT 11AM, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25

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