Parties prepare early campaigns for a rush of pre-poll voters

The State Election is not until March 23 but, with up to 40 per cent of voters expected to have their say via pre-poll voting, both sides of politics are rolling out their strongest policies early.

Both sides of politics are scrambling to adjust their campaigning tactics to cater for the growing trend of up to 40 per cent of people voting early, by phone or online, in some regions.

The major campaign offices are expecting an increase in pre-polling ahead of the March 23 election, and both sides privately concede there is growing pressure to roll out their strongest policies before early voting begins.

Pre-poll opens on March 11, two weeks before the election.

Butcher David Nedelkovski works on Saturdays so will vote early.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro said the Nationals’ campaign was expecting a record early turnout, which was why the party held its campaign launch four weeks out from the voting date.

“All our major and local policies will be rolled out before pre-poll begins,” Mr Barilaro said.

“The Nationals recognise that because of the tyranny of distance in the bush a large number of our constituents will vote early.

“From pre-poll date, we will be extremely focused on manning those booths.”

Closer to Sydney, one of the reasons many people try to qualify for early voting is simply to avoid the hassle of finding a car park on polling day — the overdevelopment burden that research on both sides predicts will hurt the government in Sydney seats.

A wide range of reasons can qualify a person for early voting, ranging from something as simple as being 8km away from a voting centre, or travelling and being unable to attend a polling place. Other accepted reasons include pregnancy, working or being a carer.

There is expected to be an increase in the use of NSW’s iVote system, which allows people to vote by phone or online.

This is accessible to people who are blind, unable to vote without assistance, live more than 20km from a polling place, or are interstate or overseas on election day.

The Nationals yesterday sent text messages encouraging people to enter personal details on a party-authorised website to discover if they were eligible to vote online following the closure of several polling booths in regional areas.

All states and territories have seen an ongoing shift in voters’ preference to vote ­before election day.

Butcher David Nedelkovski, from Elvy’s Quality Meats in Leichhardt, told The Saturday Telegraph he’d never had a Saturday off in his life.

“I always vote early,” Mr Nadelkovski said.