WHERE do you vote on Election Day in Wonthaggi?
If you answered: the Wonthaggi Senior Citizens Club in Murray Street, you’d be wrong.
The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) is closing the Early Voting Centre at the Senior Citizens Club at 6pm on Friday, November 25 and will open the McKenzie Street Campus of the Bass Coast Secondary College at 8am on election day, Saturday, November 26.
It’s not an issue of the senior cits centre not being available. The VEC have it booked all weekend.
And they’re not doing it for us, the voters of Bass.
They’re doing it so they can spread out all the pre-poll votes, of which there could be several thousand, ready to starting pre-poll votes from as early as 8am on election day..
There’s simply no room for the voters in that scenario.
We have to move, not the VCE!
The Bass District is expected to be one of those electorates upon which the outcome of the whole State Election could hinge, and the VEC wants to be on top of the count so that the result here can contribute to an early indication of the overall result.
But it’s not going to help the hundreds of people who make the mistake of turning up at the Wonthaggi Senior Citizens Centre on Election Day, Saturday, November 26.
“No one knows they’ve decided to have the voting up here,” said nearby local resident Glen Richards.
“A lot of people don’t even know there’s a secondary college up at the end of McKenzie Street,” said Mr Richards.
“And that’s another problem. There’s only one way in and one way out. It’s going to be chaos up there at certain times during the day.
“But for sure, people are going to turn up at the senior citizens on election day and wonder where they’re expected to vote,” he said.
“I mean, that’s where they held the Federal Election.
“How are they going to get the message out that they’ve changed the voting location?”
Fortunately, Wonthaggi North Primary School, is still a familiar option that local people know about.
Voting places on election day in and around Wonthaggi include:
- Bass Coast College, McKenzie Campus, 2 McKenzie Street, Wonthaggi.
- Wonthaggi North Primary School, 55 White Road, Wonthaggi.
- Dalyston Hall, Corner Tulloch Street and Bass Highway, (access via Tulloch Street), Dalyston.
- Cape Paterson Community Hall, 567 Cape Paterson Road, Cape Paterson.
- Kilcunda Community Centre, 3513–3515 Bass Highway, Kilcunda
- Inverloch Community Hub, 16 A'Beckett Street, Inverloch
- Kongwak Primary School, 1445 Korumburra–Wonthaggi Road, Kongwak.
The VEC isn’t going to relocate all of its polling booths, posters, desks and other voting paraphernalia; they’ll have a duplicate set of facilities already in place at the McKenzie Street Campus, ready to go.
So, the message is DON’T GO TO THE WONTHAGGI SENIOR CITIZENS CLUB on election day, Saturday, November 26 – there’ll be no one there!
VCE confirms Wonthaggi switch
The Victorian Electoral Commission has explained the reason for the switch to the Bass Coast College Campus in McKenzie Street.
"For this year’s State election, we will have two election day voting centres available to voters in Wonthaggi – one at Bass Coast College and a second located at Wonthaggi North Primary School.
"The early voting centre at the Wonthaggi Senior Citizens Club will be used for the extraction and sorting of early votes from 8am on election day.
"Before heading out to vote on election day, we encourage all voters to check the voting centre locator app on the VEC website to find their nearest election day voting centre."
To find your closest voting centre, simply tap the link provided and type in your town or address: https://maps.vec.vic.gov.au/elections
