March 23, 2020
Voting continues in Queensland during the final week of early polling for the 2020 local government elections.
Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young emphasised on Monday that it was “perfectly safe” to vote.
Mr Hinchliffe said people who were well, not self-isolating and not in quarantine should vote.
“At the moment, you can get go shopping, duck into the chemist, drop the kids off at school, get a haircut and pick up a takeaway meal as long as you take precautions,” he said.
“And you can vote.
“If you can, take advantage of the opportunity to vote early – it will mean fewer people and shorter queues on Saturday.
“I’d also like to thank all those employers who have encouraged their staff to go and vote early – it will make an enormous difference.”
Dr Young said voters who were healthy could vote early or on election day, March 28, and maintain the 1.5m distance between individuals.
“Everyone … absolutely go and vote, vote early this week … vote on Saturday … it’s perfectly safe,” she said.
“Normally our voting process is a very social event – we have sausage sizzles, we have fetes, we have all sorts of things.
“They’re not happening this time, so people just go straight in and vote and straight out – and the risk of doing that is absolutely minimal.
“Of course I would ask that anyone who is sick to not attend, that’s just common sense, and anyone who’s in quarantine or isolation or is in one of those groups that we’re concerned about, for them not to attend, and they should contact the Electoral Commission and manage that process.”
Mr Hinchliffe said voters had turned out in historic numbers, with more than 500,000 pre-polling and about 560,000 applications for postal votes.
