Thousands of Aussies waste their votes in our elections, not realising how important politics is to their day-to-day life.

Hey post-Millennials, this is your debut election.

And here’s a tip: ASIO and other intelligence agencies will be watching as part of a massive security operation to protect you and your ballot.

They will be monitoring “particularly cyber security (given) some issues that have alleged to have occurred overseas” said electoral commissioner Tom Rogers today.

Thousands of Australians born this century will be voting for the first time on May 18 in what will be the biggest exercise in democracy the nation has seen.

Registration to vote closed at 8pm tonight.

The Australian Electoral Commission calculates close to 16.4 million people will be on the federal rolls, or a record high of 96.8 per cent of the potential total.

That compares to 95 per cent for the 2016 election.

And they include at least 50,000 people aged 18 years to 24 who have enrolled for the first time.

The election will cost taxpayers around $300 million and involved the mobilisation of 70,000 workers on the day and a total of 80,000 by the time the process is completed and we have an elected federal Parliament.

The AEC hopes to reduce the waiting time between lining up to vote and buying the election sausage sizzle. But it already believes it has ensured 75 per cent of voters take 15 minutes or less to complete their democratic duty.

Electoral commissioner Mr Rogers today outlined a boosted security operation to protect voters and the system from interference.

The monitoring group includes ASIO, the Australian Signals Directorate, the Australian Cybersecurity Centre, the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Finance, and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

“Given what’s alleged to have occurred in a number of overseas jurisdictions we are now very alert to this (possibility of foreign interference),” Mr Rogers told reporters today.

“This will be the first federal election at which government agencies have formed a thing called … the Electoral Integrity Assurance Taskforce.

“And it is assisting us in monitoring the election.

It has representatives from the forts of agencies you would expect to be represented in that taskforce.

The high-powered over-view was trialled during the Super Saturday federal by-elections last year and the recent NSW election.

It has been beefed up for this poll.

The taskforce will offer advice but it will be up to the AEC — the electoral guardians — to decide what actions might be taken.