By Parker McKenzie
Candidates and volunteers braved rain and hail on the second day of early voting at the Bayswater Scouts Hall, after a record outing on day one around Victoria.
At the 2nd/3rd Bayswater Scout Hall on Tuesday 15 November, a wet morning wasn’t enough to keep voters away.
Independent candidate for Bayswater Dr Chloe Mackallah said pre-polling had been “super busy” so far.
“I love seeing lots of options when people come to vote,” she said.
“People are very interested when I introduce who I am and say that I’m an independent. The word independent seems to catch people’s ears.”
Dr Mackallah wasn’t the only candidate present trying to win over new voters, being joined at the polling booth by Legalise Cannabis Victoria candidate Ash Heap.
Mr Heap said despite the rain, he was in good spirits and hopeful of a good result.
“Most people understand this is a medicine and there are many people that could really benefit from this,” he said.
“Obviously, there’s is quite a lot of stigma and prejudice and discrimination still in society. My opinion is it’s due to education and lack thereof and that’s part of the reason why I’m standing up to be counted.”
Volunteers for political parties —big and small — were also at hand to help tip the balance into their candidates’ favour.
David, who is volunteering for Liberal candidate Nick Wakeling, said he believes the area has been let down by the state Labor Party.
“The roads are run-down and we need a new hospital but we were also neglected out in the suburbs by Daniel Andrews during Covid,” he said.
“It’s been very wet but people have been very positive towards it.”
A volunteer for Labor candidate Jackson Taylor said he was out supporting him because he believes the area needs a young and energetic representative.
Joshua Ytoyo said he was volunteering for the Liberal Democrats because they are the libertarian party.
“It means liberal values, not the Liberal Party, but libertarianism stands on four pillars of freedom, democracy, human rights and free markets,” he said.
“It’s basically being able to do whatever you want as long as you don’t harm others.”
On Twitter, the official VEC account said a record 115,065 votes were cast on the first day of early voting on Monday 14 November, compared to 75,612 during the 2018 election, an increase of 52 per cent.
