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The major political parties have hinted at a post-election review of early voting as rolling ballot updates signal the millionth vote is likely to be cast on Tuesday, with at least another 4 million people expected to cast their votes before the official polling day on May 18. The Australian Electoral Commission has promised the record number of pre-poll votes will be counted on election night and will not lead to a delay in people knowing the outcome of the election. While Prime Minister Scott Morrison played down concerns with early voting, saying: "I don't really see it as an issue" and touting the convenience of a longer polling period, figures from both major parties suggested there will be a review of the process after the federal election. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Tuesday said the 2019 election's three-week pre-poll period "does feel a bit long. That's an issue that will probably be revisited by both sides of politics after this election". With as many as one third of people expected to vote before May 18 in some electorates, some candidates have manned polling stations every day for the past three weeks. "Members want to get around their electorates," Mr Frydenberg said. "Some members holding portfolio responsibilities either in government or shadow portfolio responsibilities would like to get around other parts of the country." After the 2016 federal election, parliament's bipartisan electoral matters committee recommended that pre-poll voting be limited to a two-week period. Political scientists fear early voting prevents individuals from accessing all available information on the parties and candidates they choose. "When we vote early, we run the risk of missing out on information that arises later in the campaign. If we find out in the last week that our preferred party is criminally corrupt but we've already cast our vote for them, we can't go back and change our minds," Dr Jill Sheppard, from the Australian National University, said. Others say it gives voters, particularly those with a valid reason to pre-poll such as working or travelling on election day, more freedom to vote when they want. Andrew Giles, Labor's senior member of the electoral matters committee, said he expected pre-polling to be reviewed after the election. "The challenge for us is just to get the balance right between making sure every constituent gets every chance to cast their vote - early voting is really important in that regard - while also thinking about some of the implications of voting early in increasing numbers," Mr Giles said. "There is a debate about the significance of election day as a democratic point in time when the community comes together," he said. "Clearly it's changing. The nature of the election is changing. And that creates a different set of challenges for parties and candidates." The electoral commission said despite the election-changing trend, its election-night vote counting would not be affected. "Pre-poll ordinary votes (early votes cast at an early voting centre within an elector's 'home division') are counted on election night," a spokesman said. "The AEC carefully plans counting processes and resources for election night and further into the counting period." By the end of Monday, 909,837 ballots had been cast at early voting stations. At least 5 million of the 16.4 million Australian voters are expected to vote early in the 2019 federal election as the proportion of Australians who vote via pre-polling rises - from about 8 per cent in 2007 to more than 22 per cent in 2016.

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