The gates are open for polling as ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaigners race to win Australia’s first referendum in over twenty years; whether Australia should have a Voice to Parliament. Yes or no, here’s how to make sure your vote counts. 

Early voting centres have opened across the country ahead of referendum day on 14 October, although there isn’t one in every town in the Western Plains. Local early voting centres can be found in Cobar, Coonamble, and Bourke. 

If you can’t make it to a polling place during the early voting period or on the voting day, you can apply to postal vote before Wednesday, 11 October. 

Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers is encouraging voters to plan their vote, whether it's early, through post, or on referendum day. 

“If you can vote on October 14, then that’s what you should do,” Mr Rogers said. 

With every eligible Australian set to turn out to vote, Mr Rogers said that queues are bound to cause irritation, but to respect staff. 

“AEC polling officials are members of your community - parents, grandparents, neighbours and work colleagues - they will be doing a great job at delivering the vote and that deserves respect,” Mr Rogers said. 

“We simply ask that Australians be patient while waiting to cast their vote and maybe give our staff a smile and a thank you on the way through.”

How to vote

Unlike an election, voting in the referendum is a much simpler process, with no preferential voting. 

Voters will be asked on the ballot paper: “A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?”

Instead of ticking a box, voters will need to indicate their vote by clearly writing either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ in the box, in full and in English. 

Using other ways to communicate your vote, such as ticks, crosses, ‘y’ or ‘n’ could lead to misinterpretation or the vote not being counted. 

What the polls say

For a referendum to pass - which in this case would mean seeing the Voice to Parliament being established - it needs to be agreed to by the majority of the voters nationally, as well as the majority of voters in the majority of the states (but not Territories), known as the Double Majority. 

According to Essential Polling from The Guardian, voters in NSW are currently swinging towards ‘No’, with 42 per cent of people saying they would vote ‘yes’ at the ballot box. 

The ‘No’ vote has taken a noticeable lead since July this year, after polling in late 2022 saw the ‘Yes’ campaign to be much stronger with an over 60 per cent lead across Australia.