Nasty mood at pre-poll booth

Having spent three days on the pre-poll booth at Woy Woy, it was pretty clear that the outcome would not be a clear cut Labor victory as the pundits where expecting.

From previous experience, it was unusual that around 40 per cent of voters were not taking how-to-vote cards from any party.

Many were taking every card on offer.

It appeared about the same number of people were Labor and Liberal based off of the cards.

Another difference was that the Labor Party had 15 or more people handing out for them and they were very aggressive.

Some people were entering the polling booth with four or more cards.

When I questioned one Labor booth worker why the waste when it is plain to see that the person already had three of her how to vote cards she just got nasty, called in the electoral official to complain and the Labor Party campaign manager proceeded to offer me advice about where I could stand.

I thanked him for his help and continued on.

A Labor Party person who looked like Kojak, came and stood next to me.

People continued to be harassed by Labor Party people and the mood remained nasty: The first time in the 25 years that I have been handing out at polling places that Labor has raised its ugly head.

Working the pre-poll booth is usually tiring, but fun.

Election Day was better.

There were not so many red-shirts and everybody was respectful of each other.

Email, 22 May 2019

Bryan Ellis, Umina