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Speaker 1: And we are just a couple of days away now

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Speaker 1: from the federal election. And joining us on the line

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Speaker 1: to tell us a little bit more about that voter

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Speaker 1: turnout and where we can vote it is the Australian

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Speaker 1: Electoral Officer for the Northern Territory, Jeff Bloom. Good morning

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Speaker 1: to you.

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Speaker 2: Jeff, Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Jeff. How's everybody at the Electoral Commission feeling just two

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Speaker 1: days out from the federal election?

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Speaker 2: Well, I have to say a little bit battle scarred.

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Speaker 2: It's been a very long journey, but look, the team

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Speaker 2: here have done a great job. We're in the final

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Speaker 2: two days of the early voting period and then of

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Speaker 2: course election day, so that's also a very big day.

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Speaker 2: So we're definitely locked and loaded and ready for whatever

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Speaker 2: comes our way.

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Speaker 1: Jeff, have you had a good voter turnout so far

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Speaker 1: in the days leading in with those early voters.

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Speaker 2: We have, We've had approximately forty thousand voters across the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory that have cast an early vote. To say,

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Speaker 2: it's clear a little bit down on the same time

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Speaker 2: in twenty nineteen, but it's still something over thirty percent

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Speaker 2: of the total voters that we expect to cast a

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Speaker 2: vote for this election, have already cast their vote?

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Speaker 1: Wow, so forty thousand Territorians have already voted.

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Speaker 2: They sure have, So, yes, a lot of people. And

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Speaker 2: the early voting centers are still open for another two days,

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Speaker 2: and then of course after that we go to our

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Speaker 2: polling day services on Saturday.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and so, Jeff, I know that a lot of

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Speaker 1: people are probably wondering whether they can actually duck in

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Speaker 1: tomorrow and vote if they're not sort of, if they're

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Speaker 1: not in a situation where they're working on that Saturday.

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Speaker 1: So do you think that that's had a bit of

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Speaker 1: an impact in terms of those numbers being down somewhat

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Speaker 1: from twenty nineteen.

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Speaker 2: It's really hard to say. You know, when we started

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Speaker 2: this election, we weren't really across how many postal votes

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Speaker 2: we would receive this time around, how many people would

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Speaker 2: attend an early voting center, how many people turn up

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Speaker 2: on polling day. It's just it's a real unknown. So

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Speaker 2: we have to be ready for everything in terms of

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Speaker 2: early voting. I mean, there's still that opportunity I've said,

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Speaker 2: and if people don't think that they can get to

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Speaker 2: a polling place on polling day, they can come along

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Speaker 2: today or tomorrow to one of those early voting centers

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Speaker 2: and cast their vote.

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Speaker 1: Jeff, are you expecting Saturday to be an incredibly busy

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Speaker 1: day at those voting centers?

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Speaker 2: Well, we certainly, We certainly hope so as I say,

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Speaker 2: our numbers a little bit down, not too much, but

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Speaker 2: a little bit down on twenty nineteen same time, But

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Speaker 2: we'd be hoping that people who haven't already voted by

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Speaker 2: Saturday will turn up on the day. There's thirty nine

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Speaker 2: voting centers right across the Northern Territory available all that

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Speaker 2: informations on our website, so people just jump on the

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Speaker 2: website so where the nearest voting center is and jump

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Speaker 2: down and cast their vote.

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Speaker 1: Now, I know somebody had contacted us a little bit

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Speaker 1: earlier saying why is one of the only places that

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Speaker 1: they can vote at the Australian Electoral Commissions facility there

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Speaker 1: in Eton and there's no public transport out that way.

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Speaker 1: Is there going to be somewhere that's a bit closer

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Speaker 1: for those in the Northern suburbs are a bit more

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Speaker 1: convenient come Saturday that.

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Speaker 2: Particular area, So the Northern Suburbs and that casual in

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Speaker 2: the area has always been problematic for us in terms

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Speaker 2: of China secure a venue, and we've had a few

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Speaker 2: venues over time, none of which have been ideal. This

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Speaker 2: time around, we were just unable to secure anything that

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Speaker 2: looked remotely like what we needed. We need a big venue.

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Speaker 2: A lot of people travel through these early voting centers,

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Speaker 2: including in the state voters and the center that we're

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Speaker 2: now using it Eaton there in the Airport district is

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Speaker 2: the one that we have for this election. We've had

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Speaker 2: I think we've had something like six thousand voters already

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Speaker 2: through there, so that's a very healthy number and more

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Speaker 2: expected over the next couple of days. Other than that,

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Speaker 2: we've got early voting center in Darwin, one in Palmerston Cooling,

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Speaker 2: and then of course some further down the track in

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Speaker 2: Catharine Alice Springs.

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Speaker 1: Now, how will you know how longs it take I

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Speaker 1: guess after Saturday for us to find out those election results.

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Speaker 2: Well, this is the big question. It's the burning question.

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Speaker 2: We're certainly wondering that. I know political parties and of

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Speaker 2: course members of the public law have a close eye

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Speaker 2: on this. If the seats are close and we don't

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Speaker 2: know whether they will be or not talking specifically about

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Speaker 2: into here the two divisions in Northern Territory. Then it

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Speaker 2: will take longer. We won't necessarily have an indication of

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Speaker 2: which way the final vote will play out, or which

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Speaker 2: candidates will be successful. We have a lot of declaration

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Speaker 2: votes that still will be counted after polling day, so

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Speaker 2: that's in the week and in fact the next two

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Speaker 2: weeks after polling day. So it may be a case

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Speaker 2: that the declaration votes and or the distribution of preferences

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Speaker 2: will decide the outcomes in those two divisions.

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Speaker 1: Now, a big question that some people will have are

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Speaker 1: they going to be fined if they don't turn up

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Speaker 1: to vote?

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Speaker 2: Well, it is compulsory to vote, and there is a

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Speaker 2: fine for not voting. So if someone doesn't vote for

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Speaker 2: this election, they will receive a non voter notice and

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Speaker 2: that will be up to them to provide what we

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Speaker 2: call a valid sufficient reason for not voting during the election,

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Speaker 2: which will be considered by us at the time.

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Speaker 1: Jeff, is there anything else that people out there listening

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Speaker 1: this morning should know ahead of Saturday? I mean I

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Speaker 1: know that some people they'll be able to jump online

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Speaker 1: and find out exactly where they can vote. Most people

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Speaker 1: will understand that they do need to do it, but

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Speaker 1: anything else we should be aware of.

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Speaker 2: Oh look, I think it's just a call to action

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Speaker 2: from me. Please jump out there and cast your vote.

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Speaker 2: We've got some really good safety measures COVID safety measures

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Speaker 2: in our polling places to make sure people are safe,

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Speaker 2: so they can feel safe going to those locations. We've

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Speaker 2: got masks. If people think they want to wear a

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Speaker 2: mask in one of those voting centers and don't have

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Speaker 2: them have one with them, then we've got one there

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Speaker 2: for them. We're doing everything we can to keep people say,

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Speaker 2: please get out there and cast your vote for this election.

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Speaker 1: Jeff, is there going to be a barbecue or democracy sausage?

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Speaker 2: We hope. So the schools normally put those on, so

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Speaker 2: we hope some of the schools and the school councils

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Speaker 2: have got those organized for polling data.

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Speaker 1: Good staff well, Jeff Bloom, the Australian electoral officer for

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory. Really appreciate you taking the time to

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Speaker 1: have a quick chat with us this morning, because I

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Speaker 1: know that you're incredibly busy at the moment.

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Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Katie, Thank you