North West Central by-election voter turnout could be less than 50 per cent, expected to cost more than ever

The State’s largest electorate, bigger than NSW, has returned less than 50 per cent of voter turnout in the North West Central by-election on Saturday. North West Central has a total of 11,189 electors with only 4725 votes received as at 10am on Tuesday — 42.23 per cent of eligible electors. Although the final voter turnout won’t be officially released until the cut-off date for postal votes on Thursday at 9am, sources say it’s expected less than 50 per cent of electors chose to vote in the region. A WA Electoral Commission spokesperson said it was a national trend for by-election voter turnout to be lower than at State elections due to the lack of profile, but the figures were still underwhelming. “This is put down to the fact that by-elections, by their very nature of being outside the election cycle, do not have the same public and media profile. Having said that, voter turnout at this by-election has been lower than expected,” they said. They said due to the size of the electorate, the North West Central by-election was expected to cost far more than any other by-election in recent times. “This is due to the dispersed geographic nature of electors in what is WA’s largest electorate, and the challenges in communicating with them and collecting their votes,” they said. Final costings won’t be available for several weeks.