Collecting votes in a remote Australian village
Australians will vote in a federal election on Saturday, July 2. However, voters in a remote area already exercised their electoral rights on June 22.
Ensuring voting rights
The Australian Election Commission (AEC) set up 10 temporary booths over a 393,473 square km stretch in the state of New South Wales to make sure voters in the region could cast their ballots.
Remote area
One of the booths was in Enngonia, a tiny village located some 860 km northwest of Sydney and home to a small number of indigenous people. Around 30 voters submitted their ballots when AEC officials installed a temporary booth there on June 22.
Kangaroos outnumber people
Enngonia, however, is also home to more kangaroos than humans. In the picture, a dead kangaroo is seen as AEC officials drive their car towards the village to assemble a polling station.
Preparing the booth
After reaching Enngonia, AEC officials Kelly-Anne Mackay and Heather McInerney were busy assembling the voting station.
Mandatory voting
In Australia, voting is mandatory. More than 15 million people will cast their votes like Enngonia’s aboriginal women already did.
Curious visitor
Not only voters, but also this dog visited the polling station.
Ready for courier
AEC officials were in Enngonia for four hours. Then they returned to a nearby town called Bourke with the ballot boxes containing the votes. Later, a courier picked up the sealed boxes and took them to the capital Canberra for the official counting.
Bad weather
Some voters in the region could not vote due to road closures caused by heavy rains. The inclement weather also left one AEC team stuck in a town for four days.