Illawarra voters still surge to cast their vote early

Also, the shortened pre-poll window has also seen requests for postal votes double - taking the total of early voters in all but one electorate beyond 2019 figures.

Read more: Greens predict a 'record result' this Saturday

At the 2019 election, Kiama (16,720) and Shellharbour (19,822) topped the region for the number of early voters.

While the one-week window has cut those numbers, they are still the highest in the Illawarra.

As of Thursday morning 13,402 Shellharbour residents have voted early, with 12,715 in Kiama.

Third on the list is Wollongong with 8945 pre-pollers (compared to 10,883 in 2019), followed closely by Heathcote with 8927.

That figure means Heathcote is the odd one out at this stage. That 2023 figure is already higher than the 2019 mark of 8437, which was achieved over two weeks rather than the five days the 2023 pre-poll has been open.

Bringing up the rear is Keira with 8722 pre-pollers, compared to 10,722 from 2019.

With these figures not including pre-poll votes cast on Thursday or Friday, it is possible this election's smaller pre-poll window will actually see more votes cast than during 2019's two-week period.

In terms of postal vote applications, all five Illawarra electorates have seen spikes of more than 200 per cent.

The seat of Wollongong was the highest with a 296 per cent jump from 1298 to 5145.

The combined postal vote and pre-poll numbers in 2023 are higher than in 2019 for all Illawarra electorates aside from Shellharbour.

That seat saw pre-poll and postals combine for 20,887 votes in 2019, compared to 17,141 so far this election.

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