Voters hit hustings

VOTERS were out in their droves on election day with more than 84 polling booths in the electorate of McEwen open for business at 8am.
Wesburn Primary School is McEwen’s most marginal booth and more than 30 voters rolled up in the first hour to cast their vote.
Angela Torresan, 20, was a first-time voter and one of 2,500 people to put her vote in the Family First basket in McEwen.
“I think I knew enough to come and vote the right way,” she said.
More than 115,000 residents had registered to vote in McEwen, but only 88,500 people cast their vote on or before Saturday.
Almost 4000 people voted informally, either before election day or away from their electorate.
Twelve-year-old Sam Peterson was at the Healesville booth, tipping Julia Gillard to win.
His mum Sandi took him along to show him what he would have to do when he was old enough to vote.
Celebrity spotters reported State Labor Minister Tim Holding had been an early voter in Healesville too.
Over in Yarra Glen, resident Judy Anderson said she had loved teaching politics and philosophy at schools.
She said most people already knew who they were going to vote for.
“One guy came at me and asked me who I was putting last. He wanted to know if I was a Liberal. He harassed me when he discovered I wasn’t Liberal,” she said.
Labor supporter Gavan Oakley spent the day handing out “how to vote” cards at the Yarra Glen booth.
He has been doing the job since 1977 when he was a Labor candidate in the seat of Deakin, “but I’ve been on this booth now for a good while”.
Up in Toolangi, 87-year-old Ron Biggs said it shouldn’t matter how old a person was to vote.
“If you’ve got your marbles, I think you should take an interest in affairs of running the country,” he said.
Principal Kay Rowe at Toolangi Primary School said rather than the traditional sausage sizzle, they chose to give the community the opportunity to sponsor a book for their junior reading program. For $5 a book, students would take home their reader and find a sticker on the first page naming the book’s sponsor.