The highest number of early votes yet were cast on Friday when over 160,000 Queenslanders came out to vote. This brings the total number of early votes to about 770,000 – or around 20% of Queensland voters.

There are five more days of early voting before election day on Saturday 26 October. Mobile polling continues in the Cook electorate, and visits to declared institutions are also continuing this week.

Over 3.68 million Queenslanders are enrolled to vote in the 2024 State general election to determine the members of the Queensland Parliament for the next 4 years.

KEY INFORMATION

The ECQ will publish daily updates during the voting period, which provide a detailed breakdown of voting figures for each day of the early voting period. This information can be accessed in a spreadsheet available at ecq.qld.gov.au/2024SGE (under ‘Election data’).

Early voting

Early voting is available from 8am to 6pm on weekdays until Friday 25 October 2024. Around 200 early voting centres are available throughout Queensland.

Voters can find a convenient voting location at ecq.qld.gov.au/booths.

Early voting numbers have been higher than in the 2020 State general election. In 2020, around 670,000 people voted during the first week of the early voting period. 

Postal voting

The cut off time for postal vote applications passed at 7pm on Monday 14 October.

About 685,000 postal votes have been processed by the ECQ and lodged for delivery by Australia Post. This number includes both postal vote requests and special postal voters. This concludes all postal vote requests.

The first postal votes have been returned to the ECQ and will be scrutinised progressively as they are received. Over 5,000 postal votes have been received by the ECQ. Postal voters have until 6pm on election day to fill out their ballot papers but are encouraged to do this and return them to the ECQ as soon as possible.

Voters who have requested a postal vote can choose at any time to vote in person by attending an early voting centre or election day voting centre. If they choose to vote in person, they should dispose of their postal ballot papers safely.

The total number of postal votes requested is lower than the 900,000 postal votes issued in 2020, but the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic should be considered in any comparison to the 2020 State general election.

Remote area voting

Remote area voting visited Saibai, Mabuiag (Jervis), Dauan (Mt Cornwallis) on Friday 18 October. Over 7,000 people have already voted using mobile polling. Visits continue through this week. Election day polling booths will also be available in the Cook electorate.

Telephone voting

Telephone voting is available to voters who meet eligibility criteria including an inability to attend a polling place due to illness, impairment or disability.

Over 10,000 people have registered to vote by telephone, and 8,000 have already completed their vote.

Voter engagement and support

Behind the scenes, our teams have been working to support the media, candidates and political parties and voters by phone, email and social media.

Since the beginning of early voting, ECQ staff have handled:

• over 1,000 social media messages and comments

• over 50 media enquiries

• nearly 30,000 calls

• over 3,000 emails.

Election timetable

• 14-25 October             Early voting period

• 26 October                  Election Day

• 5 November                Last day for return of postal votes to the ECQ

The postal vote application deadline was at 7pm on Monday 14 October.