Kyabram voters looking to declare their democratic decision before Saturday have been unable to do so in town, but pre-polling centres in Shepparton and Echuca remain open until election day.
According to the Australian Electoral Commission, as of May 15 almost 19,000 pre-poll votes had been cast in Nicholls and almost 5000 of the nearly 12,000 requested postal votes had been returned.
With over 114,000 registered voters on the Nicholls electoral role, these trends suggest well over a third of residents will have already made up their mind and cast their vote before election day.
When May 21 does come around though, Kyabramites and their close neighbours will be spoiled for choice when attempting to elect their preferred candidate to federal parliament.
Youth Club Hall, Kyabram P12 College, Ky Valley Public Hall, Lancaster Primary School, Merrigum Primary School, Girgarre Primary School, Tongala Public Hall, Stanhope Community Hall, Byrneside Public Hall and Undera Primary School will all host polling booths, with voting open from 8am to 6pm on election day.
And all indications currently point to a tight race when it comes to the candidate set to represent the region for the upcoming term in office.
Nationals candidate Sam Birrell, Liberal Steve Brooks and independent Rob Priestly have provided voters with a strong three-pronged battle, as they vie to replace the retiring Damian Drum.
Preferences look likely to play an important part in the final result, meaning supporters of the other eight candidates for Nicholls will still have a say in the region’s future representation.
Labor’s Bill Lodwick, Ian Christoe of The Greens, United Australia Party’s Rob Peterson, One Nation’s Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, Australian Citizens’ Party’s Jeff Davy, Fusion Party’s Andrea Otto, Liberal Democrats’ Tim Laird and Australian Federation Party’s Eleonor Tabone make up the rest of the 11 names constituents will see on their voting cards.
All have run campaigns of varying visibility, but remain at long odds of beating Mr Birrell, Mr Brooks or Mr Priestly to the hot seat in Canberra.