Brisbane early voting: Where to vote early this federal election, and how it could change the result

Sydney Morning Herald

23-04-2025

Nearly half of all voters are expected to cast their vote early this year, and possibly even more in Queensland as election day falls on the Labour Day long weekend.
A surge of Brisbane residents headed to pre-polling booths on Tuesday as dozens of centres opened their doors. Across the state, more than 117,000 people cast their votes.
At Brisbane City Hall, where residents from any electorate in the city can cast their vote, volunteers were serving democracy sausages, with the atmosphere and energy akin to a traditional polling day.
Early voting is even more attractive to Queenslanders this election because the May 3 polling day coincides with the state's Labour Day long weekend.
Former Labor strategist Kos Samaras, a pollster from the RedBridge Group, said people who voted at pre-polling stations were generally older, wealthier and had more time on their hands. Generally, that meant early votes favoured the Liberal Party.
'It's an older demographic, it's a demographic with a lot of tradespeople, and to a lesser extent shift workers,' he said.
Voters on election day tended to be younger, more ethnically diverse and poorer, he added.
'If you want to put a broad brush across it, on-the-day voters tend to be younger and poorer. Hence, the on-the-day vote will be better for Labor,' he said.