Australia's choice: millions to decide future of nation
AUSTRALIANS HEAD TO THE POLLS TO ELECT THE NEXT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ON MAY 3.
HERE'S SOME OF THE DAY'S NUMBERS:
* More than 7.38 million people have already voted before election day, accounting for about 40 per cent of the electoral roll
* About 10 million are expected to cast their ballots on Saturday
* There are 150 seats in the House of Representatives and 76 are required to form majority government
* 1456 candidates are contesting the 2025 poll, with 1126 in the lower house and 330 in the Senate
* The coalition needs to gain 19 seats from their current 57, which includes vacant seats after retirement, former MPs who defected who to the crossbench and seat redistributions, to rule in majority
* Labor can lose two seats from the 78 they currently hold, including redistributions, and still remain a majority government
* The lower house crossbench is made up of four Greens, one Centre Alliance, one Katter's Australian Party and nine independent members
* Forty of the 76 Senate seats are up for election in 2025 for a six year term
THE ELECTORAL OPERATION
* More than 7000 polling places open on election day
* 570 pre-polling stations used for voters who cannot cast their ballot on the day
* Overseas polling stations opened during the pre-poll period with 111 voting centres across 83 nations, including Antarctica
* About 250,000 pencils available for voters to mark their ballots
* More than 55 million ballot papers printed
* 100,000 election staff to ensure voting occurs seamlessly across Australia
* 12 million official election guides mailed to voters
* Democracy sausages will be on the menu at more than 1700 polling booths on election day, expected to raise about $4 million for community groups
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