Remarkable new figures show why the beaches were busier than polling booths

Remarkable new figures have revealed why there was such a poor turnout at Gold Coast voting booths.

REMARKABLE new figures show almost half of Gold Coasters either postal voted or went to the pre-poll, avoiding having to vote today.

The exclusive figures, obtained by The Bulletin, explain the poor turnouts at polling on the Glitter Strip.

More people at Currumbin Creek than nearby polling booths. Photo/Steve Holland.

More people were on the beaches on the city’s southern end by midmorning than at larger schools where they could register their vote.

About 49 per cent of enrolled Coast voters either prepolled or sought postal voting, which compares to a 60 per cent state wide trend.

Research obtained by the Local Government Association of Queensland reveals 37 per cent of Coast voters who are eligible to vote went to the pre-poll — 144,303 voters out of 388,034 voted by pre-poll centre closure on Friday.

The trend on the Glitter Strip is similar to other local government areas throughout the State with more than 1.2 million of an estimated almost 3.3 million voters having voted at pre-poll.

Voters at the Palm Beach Currumbin State School. Photos: Steve Holland.

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Polling across all booths visited by The Bulletin’s election reporting team today was universally slow.

Some voters took extraordinary precautions, turning up covered head to toe in scarfs and track suits.

One of the few busy booths today was at Main Beach Pavilion where there was a line out the door and around the corner into the park, with voters maintaining social distancing.

“There are more corflutes outside polling booths than voters,” an experienced poll campaigner said.

Local government sources suggest most campaigns get an 80 per cent turnout, but there is a possibility that despite the coronavirus threat the 2020 poll will enjoy the best turnout in a long time.

Campaign workers for Councillor William Owen-Jones preparing in darkness before polling booths opened in the council election.

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The voting stops at 6pm. There are suggestions counting will be slow tonight, and in some tight contests in Coast council divisions, a winner will not be known with preferences to be counted.

Four new councillors will be elected, due to either boundary changes or retirements. Mayor Tom Tate, who won with 63.38 per cent of the vote in 2016, is expected to be voted in for a third term but his margin might be reduced by a Melbourne Cup field of candidates including main rival Mona Hecke.

The State Government and Electoral Commission of Queensland made the decision to go ahead with the poll, and that move was backed today by the LGAQ.

The peak body representing Queensland’s 77 councils says today’s local government elections

will ensure community leadership is in place to see Queenslanders through the COVID-19

pandemic.

Voters taking precautions from coronavirus at the Pacific Pines primary school on the Gold Coast during the council poll. Photograph: Paul Weston.

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LGAQ CEO Greg Hallam thanked voters for heeding the health advice of the state’s Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young and turning out to have their say.

“More than one million voters have voted early in this election and hundreds of thousands more will cast their vote today,” Mr Hallam said.

“There are tough decisions ahead, decisions that need to be made to guide local communities in these challenging times.

“Budgets need to be approved, emergency response mechanisms need to be led and local

economic response plans activated and implemented to ensure any stimulus and support is

targeted where it is most needed.

“These elections will ensure stability. They will ensure councils can continue to function at a time when their communities need them the most.”