{"id":637130,"date":"2026-04-28T22:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T22:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/637130\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T22:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T22:44:12","slug":"early-farrer-voters-make-choices-known-as-pre-polling-gets-underway-in-blockbuster-by-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/637130\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Farrer voters make choices known as pre-polling gets underway in blockbuster by-election"},"content":{"rendered":"

Early voters queuing to cast their ballots in the Farrer by-election have had plenty to say about the political candidates seeking to represent them, amid predictions of a historic election result<\/a> against the major parties.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, 11 pre-polling centres stretching from Albury to the South Australian border flung open their doors to accept early votes, ahead of the high-profile by-election on May 9.<\/p>\n

It is a packed race, with 12 candidates on the ballot. The seat has been a Coalition stronghold for decades, and Labor has chosen not to contest this time around.<\/p>\n

But it is One Nation’s David Farley and independent candidate Michelle Milthorpe who are running neck-and-neck for the lead, according to some internal party polling leaked to the ABC.<\/p>\n

Culcairn couple Florencia and Peter Earl said they had “definitely” decided who they would back \u2014 and it wasn’t the “status quo”.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Florencia and Peter Earl cast their early votes in Albury ahead of the Farrer by-election.\u00a0 (ABC News: Gaye Pattison\u00a0)<\/p>\n

“We’d both like a different person representing us \u2026 someone who can get the job done,” Ms Earl said.<\/p>\n

Glenellen resident Anne Solsky has lived in the electorate almost since its creation in 1949 and is “disappointed” with the choices before her.<\/p>\n

“It’s a bit discouraging, generally,” she said.<\/p>\n

While she was buoyed by the recent rise in interest in the seat, she did not have much faith in the candidates.<\/p>\n

“You \u2026 look at the calibre of the people and what they’re capable of being able to achieve when they get in there [into parliament],” she said.<\/p>\n

Ninety-six-year-old Albury resident Alison Dandridge said she had witnessed many elections over the years, but this one felt different.<\/p>\n

“There should be interest \u2026 it’s our town and let’s face it, you’ve got to look after it,” she said.\"An<\/p>\n

Albury resident Alison Dandridge, 96, and her grandson Jarrod beat the voter rush. (ABC News: Gaye Pattison\u00a0)<\/p>\n

Her grandson, Jarrod O’Connor, joined her and said he had done his research.<\/p>\n

“I just picked [my preferred candidate] based on the current climate more than anything,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I tried to avoid the drama that a lot of the parties are pushing and actually look at what they’re offering.”<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Pre-polling opened on Smollett Street, Albury, on Tuesday ahead of the May 9 Farrer by-election. (ABC News: Greg Ryan)<\/p>\n

AEC discourages informal voting<\/p>\n

The Murray River forms the southern border of the Farrer electorate, which takes in the towns of Albury, Berrigan, Balranald, Wentworth, Griffith and Narrandera.<\/p>\n

So it is no surprise that water management is a big issue there, along with regional healthcare and housing shortages.<\/p>\n

With all eyes watching the outcome, the Australian Electoral Commission has moved to encourage voters to do their research and avoid casting informal votes.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Evan Ekin-Smyth says informal votes could sway the election result.\u00a0 (Supplied: AEC)<\/p>\n

“If you’re going to go to the effort of turning up to a polling place, organising yourself to get there, you want to have your say, and you want to make sure it counts,” AEC spokesperson Evan Ekin-Smyth said.<\/p>\n

In 2025, 50,000 Farrer voters cast early votes, and Mr Ekin-Smyth expected half the electorate to do the same before May 9.<\/p>\n

He said there had been a rise in pre-polling in recent federal elections, especially in large electorates like Farrer.<\/p>\n

“Farrer is \u2026 about a 126 thousand square kilometres, approximately the same size as Greece.”Predictions of a historic result<\/p>\n

Veteran ABC political commentator Barrie Cassidy will host an election forum at Charles Sturt University in Albury on Thursday.<\/p>\n

He said there had been significant interest in the by-election due to an ongoing “political earthquake” that began just before the 2025 federal election.<\/p>\n

\"Barrie<\/p>\n

Veteran ABC political commentator Barrie Cassidy will host a candidates’ forum for the May 9 Farrer by-election. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n

“There’s intense interest in this by-election to see just how much momentum there is behind that and whether the polls will be reflected in the results,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Cassidy said after a “remarkable” lead-up to the by-election, there could be an historical result if polling proved correct.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think we’ve ever seen a result before where neither of the Coalition nor the Labor Party has finished either first or second,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Farrer by-election was triggered by the resignation of Liberal leader Sussan Ley, who lost the party leadership to Angus Taylor in February, after just nine months in the job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Early voters queuing to cast their ballots in the Farrer by-election have had plenty to say about the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51326,308366,38323,308365,243233,43,44,308367,41,39,42,40,241840],"class_list":["post-637130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australian-electoral-commission","tag-barrie-cassidy","tag-by-election","tag-evan-ekin-smyth","tag-farrer","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-pre-polling","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-voters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}