Tasmanian Electoral Commission

Voting before polling day

Voting at House of Assembly elections is compulsory.

You can vote at any polling place in Tasmania on polling day. If you cannot vote in person on polling day, you must vote early.

Pre-poll voting, postal voting and express voting are available as soon as the list of candidates is confirmed.

Tasmania now has a system to allow blind and vision-impaired voters to independently complete their House of Assembly ballot paper in secret.

Pre-poll voting

Pre-poll voting allows electors to vote in person at electoral offices within Tasmania and across Australia at Australian Electoral Commission divisional offices. Pre-poll voting is available during regular electoral office hours soon after the announcement of candidates until Friday, 19 March 2010. To find your nearest divisional office, call 13 23 26 or enter your postcode at Contact the AEC.

Postal voting

Postal voting allows electors to apply for a ballot by post. Voters must first apply for a postal vote. The ballot is then mailed to the voter, who completes it and returns it to the Returning Officer by post.

Overseas voters can apply for a postal vote online. Postal voters within Tasmania can print a postal vote application form, or pick one up from the nearest post office or electoral office. Like ordinary voting and pre-poll voting, postal voting maintains the secrecy of the vote.

Postal voting is available to all Tasmanian electors who cannot get to a polling place on polling day.

Express voting

Express voting is a new service which allows electors to receive a ballot paper image by email or fax. The voter must then complete the ballot, sign a declaration and return the ballot and declaration to the returning officer by post, email or fax. Express voting is only available to voters in remote areas or overseas. While express voting is significantly faster than postal voting, the secrecy of the ballot cannot be guaranteed.

For more information, go to:

Polling day

Polling day is Saturday, 20 March 2010. Polls are open from 8 am to 6 pm, AEDT.

You may vote in any of Tasmania’s 312 polling places on polling day.

The last day you can vote at an interstate electoral office is Friday 19 March. Contact the office directly for opening hours.

For the first time in a House of Assembly election, election rolls for all five divisions will be available at every polling place. This means you can cast an ordinary vote anywhere in the state.

Election night

Immediately after the polls close, counting of first preferences begins at the polling places.

Preliminary voting results are reported as they arrive at the Tasmanian Electoral Commission’s tally room at Wrest Point in Sandy Bay. The tally room is open to the public. Most Tasmanian broadcasters report live from the tally room on election night.

Preliminary results will also be posted to the TEC website as they become available.

Although election night results can give a good indication of who is likely to be elected and which party is likely to form government, changes can occur as preferences are distributed. The final list of elected candidates and the number of seats each party will win will not be known until the Hare-Clark scrutiny has been completed.

Enrolment & Writ | Nominations & Candidates | Polling & Tally | After Polling Day