Get ready to vote, Victorians

VOTERS across the Geelong region and Victoria as a whole should be warming up to exercise their democratic franchise, with election day polls to open at 8am tomorrow (Saturday, November 25).

All of the state’s lower and upper house seats will be up for grabs in the Victorian election.

Locally, voters will be choosing their representatives for the next four years in the districts of Lara, Geelong, Bellarine, South Barwon and Polwarth, as well as in the Western Victorian Region.

Polls will close at 6pm tomorrow but many people have already made up their minds, with early voting starting on November 14 and a record number of early voters choosing to do so at the first opportunity.

The Victorian Electoral Commssion has reminded voters that they can control their own preferences when voting for their upper house region if they vote below the line at the election.

Then-Electoral Commissioner, Warwick Gately, acknowledged concern in the community following extensive media coverage on Thursday last week regarding preference deals.

“Negotiating preferences using the group voting ticket (GVT) system is not prohibited under electoral laws.

“However, the ticket only applies if a voter votes above the line on their Upper House ballot paper by numbering a ‘1’ next to their most preferred group.

“You can control where your preferences flow if you vote below the line instead of above the line. To do this, you must number at least 1 to 5 below the line and can continue numbering if you wish.”

For more information on voting, including lists of candidates, GVTs and polling places, head to vec.vic.gov.au/voting/2022-state-election

For a real-time map of where you can get a democracy sausage at the same time you cast your vote, head to democracysausage.org