Seats with the worst voter turnout are also often the safest and most remote

Certain voters don’t show up at polling booths and data reveals there could be a good reason why some aren’t politically engaged.

Australians living in areas with the worst voting rates may have good reasons for not turning up at the ballot box.

Analysis of electorates in Australia show that among the 10 electorates with the worst turnout, many include remote areas or were some of the safest seats in the country.

Lingari in the Northern Territory topped the list, with just 72.85 per cent of voters casting a ballot in this area. The electorate includes the towns of Alice Springs and Katherine, with about 19,000 of the 70,000 residents not voting.

Some of the residents use mobile polling, with teams from the Australian Electoral Commission generally visiting around 400 communities located far from polling places mostly in NT, Western Australia and Queensland, to record people’s votes. These teams often access these locations using 4WDs, helicopters and light aircraft.

An exception to this is the marginal metropolitan seat of Swan in Western Australia, which includes suburbs in Perth’s southeast. It is held with just a 2.69 per cent buffer, News Corp data shows.

Only 88.57 per cent of residents in Swan voted at the 2019 election but its voters will likely be targeted this year by Labor.

Other electorates with the worst turnout include the inner city area of Sydney — which has no shortage of accessible polling booths selling democracy sausages — but the seat is considered one of the safest in Australia, held by Labor with a margin of 18.67 per cent.

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Meanwhile electorates with the highest voter turnout rates also include some of the most marginal seats in the country.

The electorates of Braddon, Corangamite and Deakin are all held with a margin of between 2 per cent and 5 per cent.

Braddon in particular is expected to be the focus of campaigning this year, with Labor possibly looking to pick up this seat.

Voters may remember Prime Minister Scott Morrison being photographed at a Braddon carrot farm in Tasmania in 2019, and it looks like his efforts were rewarded.

The electorate had the highest voter turnout of 95.09 per cent in 2019 and also helped secure Mr Morrison’s win.

The region, which includes the cities of Burnie and Devonport, saw Liberal candidate Gavin Pearce secure victory against then-Labor MP Justine Keay. The marginal electorate is now held with a buffer of 3.09 per cent.

Scott Morrison at a carrot farm in Devonport, Tasmania during the last federal election in 2019. Picture: Gary Ramage

Another electorate with a high voter turnout is Deakin in Victoria, which has been a marginal seat for the last six elections (it is currently held by a margin of 4.78 per cent) and it has also picked the winner every year.

The seat of Mayo in South Australia, which had a turnout of 84.97 per cent, is also held with a slim margin of 5.14 per cent by Centre Alliance’s Rebekha Sharkie.

Corangamite in Victoria — a marginal Labor seat — had a turnout of 94.82 per cent.

Voters line up at one of the Australian Electoral Commission‘s remote polling booths. Picture: AEC/Supplied

The electorates with the worst turnout include the marginal seat of Solomon in the Northern Territory, which incorporates the city of Darwin, with a turnout of 83.08 per cent, followed by the safe seat of Durack in Western Australia, which includes the resort town of Broome, on 84.05 per cent.

Other electorates with low turnout include other safe seats, such as Moncrieff in Queensland, which includes Surfers Paradise, held by the LNP with a margin of 15.36 per cent, and Blaxland in NSW, held by the ALP with a 14.72 per cent margin.

Labor also holds the seat of Brand in WA with a 6.66 per cent margin and Rankin in Queensland with a 6.44 per cent margin.

The party held more of the seats with the worst turnout, while the Coalition held more seats with the best turnout.

Originally published as Seats with the worst voter turnout are also often the safest and most remote