The nation has headed to the polls.

Blog

Stay up-to-date with our blog, below. The Boorowa News will be collaborating with colleagues across the electorate.

We'll be checking out booths around the electorate, so say hello if you spot our roving photographers.

And don't forget to take advantage of the sausage sizzles!

Hume Votes in 2019

Voting will take place at Boorowa Central School, 31 - 49 Pudman Street. The booth is open 8am to 6pm sharp. All have assisted access for wheelchair users.

Democracy Sausage?

According to www.democracysausage.org there's no sausages being cooked up in Boorowa this year.

Out and about

If your local booth has food and drinks or market stalls on show, let us know with a pic or comment on our Facebook page: facebook.com/BoorowaNews

Or if you're just out and about with the kids and pets, enjoying an autumn day free of politics, share a snap with us on Facebook, too.

Your candidates

How-to-vote cards will be available at booths showing the flow of preferences (though not all candidates have determined preferences to other parties).

The candidates are:

Pre-polling

More than four million (tbc) electors have already voted in the Federal Election, says the Australian Electoral Commission.

How to vote

You've negotiated the scrum of party volunteers handing out the how-to-vote cards, stood in line to have your name ticked off and now you're in the booth.

You're alone with two sheets of paper and a pen or pencil stub attached to the booth with a string (can't be too careful these days).

Voting is a straightforward process.

You make a choice, you register it on the ballot paper and your vote, along with those of your fellow citizens, contributes to the make-up of the next parliament.

Every vote counts.

It's the fraught business of preferences, however, that seems to cause the most confusion.

Yet should be the simplest part of the business: you choose.

Social media lately has been full of questions from people wanting to know where the parties are directing their preferences.

The short answer is that you, not the parties, choose your preferences.

The parties will recommend a direction of preferences based on their prior discussions with other parties or independent candidates.

These recommendations will be on the how-to-vote cards.

However, you don't have to follow these recommendations if you want to direct your second, third or subsequent preferences elsewhere.

The small green ballot form is for the House of Representatives. For your vote to count, you must number every box, with your first choice at Number 1, and then sequentially to seven.

The Senate paper is the large white paper. The party names are across the top above the line, while under the line are the names of the individual candidates for the Senate. For your vote to count, you must number either a minimum of six boxes above the line, if you wish to vote for parties; or a minimum of 12 boxes below the line if you wish to vote for individual candidates.

You can choose to follow the preference recommendations of the party or candidate receiving your Number 1 vote, or you can choose to direct preferences as you feel appropriate.

The order in which the candidates and parties appear on the ballot form was determined by an independent ballot draw.

Read more on voting and candidates via the Australian Electoral Commission: aec.gov.au