By Ruza Zivkusic
VOTERS in the West are most likely to get only one early voting centre in their municipality before the November 25 State election.
The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) is yet to finalise its list of early voting centres but the Liberal leader in the Western Metropolitan Region, Bernie Finn, who has received a copy of the draft list last week, said the list neglected the West.
If the draft remains the same, Brimbank’s only early voting centre would be in Deer Park.
The last 2002 State election saw two early voting centres in Brimbank.
Hobsons Bay, Wyndham and Maribyrnong are most likely to have one early voting centre each, according to the list, compared to Hume and Whittlesea having three centres each.
Mr Finn said the lack of centres would “rob” residents of the opportunity to cast a ballot before the polling day.
But the Minister for Small Business Andre Haermeyer said he could not understand what the fuss was about as “most people would vote on the day any way”.
“They’re not meant to be polling booths on polling day where you’ve got one in every neighbourhood,” Mr Haermeyer said.
He said that the Deer Park centre would suit residents as it was central and had easy access to public transport.
Cairnlea Residents Association president Paul Aquilina said many of the elderly residents preferred casting an early vote.
“We need more than just one place in Deer Park. If the government was interested in looking after their own, they would not half the amount of centres due to the fact that a lot of elderly residents have to get assistance to go and vote,” he said.
“It comes down to the West being a safe seat and being a Labor oriented area.”
The Greens candidate for Keilor, Lisa Asbury, said the lack of transport was not adequate for early polling.
“I would want everyone to have access to a vote. If they can’t access polling booths then that’s going to be of a concern for democracy,” Ms Asbury said.
VEC communication officer Brett Fraser said the commission would be operating 77 early voting centres for the state election.
“The VEC’s policy in determining early voting centre locations was based on historical data and to give the broadcast coverage of accessible locations to voters,” he said.
“However, given the short-term lease of these centres it is not always possible to find localities in all areas,” he said.
The list of early voting centres will be available on 31 October at the VEC’s state election website
