Heavy early voting points to strong turnout

Political pundits are predicting a larger voter turnout this election. Photo / NA

Northlanders seem keen to get their votes in for Saturday's general election with early votes cast across the country more than double for the same period last election.

As of yesterday morning - 11 days into the voting campaign - the Electoral Commission said 287,735 advance votes had been cast nationally, compared with 118,702 at the same stage in the 2011 campaign and 104,610 in the 2008 election campaign.

A commission spokesman said a total of 334,358 advance votes were cast for the 20112 election and that figure looked like being far exceeded this time, with the three days before the election the busiest time for advanced votes.

In the Northland electorate in 2011, there were 4525 advanced votes and 4040 in the Whangarei electorate. The spokesman said advance voting figures for each electorate won't be released until after election day, but it was fair enough to say that advanced voting seemed to be up right across the country.

In the 2001 general election, the turnout for the Whangarei electorate was 32,153, or 69.27 per cent, well below the 36,716 who voted in 2008 and 35,685 in 2005.

A total of 30,099 people voted in the Northland electorate in 2011, or 68.33 per cent of registered voters, which is below the 34,372 in 2008 and 31,172 in 2005.

However, political pundits are predicting a larger voter turnout this election.

Meanwhile, a mobile early polling booth will be stationed in Moerewa from 10am-3pm today. The voting caravan will be parked in the township's main street, after spending Monday and Tuesday in Kawakawa. It was provided after locals complained about a lack of early voting facilities in the towns.