The Turnbull government has been warned it is running out of time to deliver on Senate voting reforms to end "preference harvesting", with one election expert saying the job of upgrading vote-counting software and reconfiguring millions of ballot papers would be a "recipe for disaster" for the trouble-prone Australian Electoral Commission if done at the last minute.

The government is considering whether to press ahead with abolishing the group voting ticket - the mechanism that has allowed minor parties to transform a tiny primary vote into electoral success through preference deals.

Independent senator Nick Xenophon is at odds with Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm and independent senator Jacqui Lambie over the potential changes to Senate voting. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, who has taken on the voting reform task from the sidelined special minister of state Mal Brough, has met with the Greens and crossbenchers over the past fortnight.

A report emerged on Friday that a deal had been sealed between the Coalition, Nick Xenophon and the Greens, raising the prospect of an early double-dissolution election around May.