Beyond plucky independents, as Australia heads toward its own federal elections in May, a remarkable shift in voting preference has taken hold. For a lot of these voters, many young and first-time voters like Christen Bingham are choosing early voting for a smoother experience at the polls. Bingham, who has been volunteering with the Greens, says she wishes there were better choices, but is grateful for early voting and its advantages. More than 1.78 million Australians have voted in advance. This spike is an indication of the growing pre-polling trend, offering voters more access and flexibility than ever before.
Phoebe Hayman, a PhD candidate at La Trobe University, has found important breakthroughs for better early voting. She pointed out a few of the main factors contributing to its rise across the country. In her studies, she says every demographic group has very specific and idiosyncratic voting patterns. Electors in key, swing or marginal electorates frequently vote on polling day itself. By contrast, constituencies that are more secure have much higher rates of early participation. Zareh Ghazarian, a political scientist at Monash University, finds political parties are falling behind. He contends they failed to adapt their campaign tactics to stay in step with this changing behavior.
Understanding Early Voting
This year’s federal election has seen a record shattering increase in advance voting. During the 2022 election cycle, over 5.5 million Americans cast their ballot before election day. In fact, almost half of all voters made the decision to vote early. This year is no different, with more than one million Australians already enrolling before the official day of voting.
Voter Christen Bingham explains her early vote motivation. As someone who is disabled I was especially hoping to pick a day where there would be less of a crowd. It would help me personally relax more during the trip, for all of us,” she explained. Her experience highlights how crucial accessibility is to the electoral process.
Floyd George Long, an frequent early voter has similar feelings about convenience and order. He typically votes early, due to his schedule working in retail. This year he decided to vote early to skip the long lines. I wasn’t going to take the chance that I would do it and not do it. I’m not very comfortable about the postal vote situation, so that’s why I’ve voted early [at a booth],” Long remarked.
Factors Influencing Voting Behavior
Phoebe Hayman’s dissertation explores the traits that make early voters tick. She highlights that certain demographics exhibit a stronger inclination towards pre-polling, while those in marginal seats tend to wait until election day. “Voters truly do judge assessments of incumbents’ eyes salaciously enjoyed a safe seat as opposed to a dangerous set,” Hayman observed.
Early voting was used by Julie Newman, a candidate of the safe Liberal seat of Flinders. After completing the ballot, she left to go see her family. She raises the alarm on the electorate’s decreasing trust in political parties and electoral processes. “Everybody’s angry with the government and rightfully so,” she said. Newman knows that what voters want more than anything from candidates is transparency and plain speaking. Without a rule imposing mandatory penalties for any false statements made prior to election, the public trust in government is eroded. “This is very alarming,” she continued.
This desire reflects a deep, growing anger among voters that is tired of political niceties. As Newman put it, “Everyone I talked to said you’re not voting for who you want in parliament. You’re voting from the bottom up of who’s the least bad to vote for.”
Political Parties and Campaign Strategies
Even with the shift to early voting being so obvious, Ghazarian claims political parties and operatives have struggled to adapt their campaign playbooks in a timely fashion. He continues that the ways they used to inform voters are not working like they used to, as more and more voters opt for early voting. Further, they can’t continue to inundate voters with a drumbeat of news during the election, as they’ve long been able to do. Early voting completely upended how they campaign, though,” he said.
Now Ghazarian expects this shift to play out even more in favor of Democrats in electoral dynamics going forward. This upward trajectory is likely to become the new normal, and I fully expect it to continue on this upward trajectory. He finished up your remarks.
The ramifications of these changes are monumental for every party engaged in the electoral process. Early voting is emerging as an increasingly important feature of Australian elections. Political parties need to adjust their outreach strategies to appeal to those voters who prefer this option.
