The Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ) says early voting for the Stretton State by-election has begun.
The ECQ said the election would be held on Saturday 24 July and was necessary following the death of the sitting Labor Member, Duncan Pegg.
Commissioner of the ECQ, Pat Vidgen said providing two weeks of early voting meant Stretton electors could choose a convenient time to vote.
“Ballot materials for the around 8,500 postal voters have been progressively dispatched following the ballot paper order draw on 7 July,” Mr Vidgen said.
“For election day, there are five voting venues located within the Stretton electorate: Kuraby State School, Runcorn State High School, Runcorn Heights State School, Stretton State College (Illaweena Campus), and Sunnybank Hills State School.”
He said that in order to assist electors in one of Queensland’s most multicultural electorates, the ECQ was providing a Multilingual Guide to Voting in all polling booths, as well as voting information posters.
The posters would be in easy English and the most common languages spoken in the electorate: Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi and Arabic.
“If a candidate has submitted a how-to-vote card, electors can view it on the ECQ website,” Mr Vidgen said.
The Commissioner said the ECQ continued to take advice from Queensland Health about a range of COVID-safe measures for polling booths, including signing in using the Check In Qld app when going to a voting venue.
“Electors can help make voting as quick and safe as possible by bringing their voter information card if they have one, staying 1.5 metres apart, using hand sanitiser, bringing a pen or pencil with them if they wish, and following all Queensland Health directions including wearing a mask if this if required,” he said.
“As there are five candidates, electors will need to number one through to five in their preferred order and I remind electors that voting is compulsory,” Mr Vidgen said.
