What if this election was already over before polling day? What if it was run and done before the P&C had even singed their first democracy sausage? Well it’s possible it will be and the beginning of the end starts tomorrow. That is when the Australian Electoral Commission will open hundreds of prepoll voting centres across the country, with a record number of Australians expected to cast their ballot before the official election date. The AEC estimates that around a third of voters will vote early. The Australian National University thinks it could be up to half. INTERACTIVE: Don't know who to vote for? Election MatchMaker is here to help ‘Vandalism’ by Brett Lethbridge. And conditions could not be more perfectly calibrated for a tsunami of prepolls. More than half the states and territories are still in school holidays, while the timing of Easter and Anzac Day has delivered back-to-back long weekends. And there has been a massive rise in the number of prepoll voters anyway in recent years simply because people find it more convenient and restrictions have been relaxed. Call it the civic equivalent of working from home. FULL LIST: Every polling booth if you want to vote early This means that the result will be largely determined by wherever the parties stand now — despite almost two weeks to go — and that by polling day the result may already be sealed. CLICK HERE FOR JOE HILDEBRAND'S FULL ANALYSIS |