More than 1500 infringement notices have been sent to residents of the Fannie Bay electorate who failed to vote at the by-election on August 20, the NT Electoral Commission has said, following an “extremely disappointing” turnout of only 63 per cent of eligible voters.

“As an urban division, a much higher turnout was expected for the division of Fannie Bay,” said Electoral Commissioner Iain Loganathan.

“Voter turnout was extremely disappointing.”

Voting is mandatory in the Territory, as such eligible residents must cast their ballots unless they have a valid reason for not voting.

Residents who did not vote and do not have an adequate reason are now facing a fine of $25 which should be settled by October 13 this year, the commission said.

Voters who do not pay the fee by the deadline could be referred to court.

Mr Loganathan will be reviewing the low voter turnout of the Fannie Bay by-election as part of the electoral report that he will present to Parliament next year.

More than 1,000 fewer people cast their votes in Fannie Bay compared to the general election held in 2020.

And the turn-out in Fannie Bay was lower than the rates in the Daly by-election last September.

“The challenge in the Territory is to get remote Aborigines to participate in elections, not voters in inner city electorates,” Commissioner Loganathan said at the time of the Fannie Bay by-election.

The low voter turnout in Fannie Bay saw Labor candidate Brent Potter claim victory despite a massive swing towards the Greens and the CLP.

CLP candidate Ben Hosking easily won the primary vote with 1,451 votes compared to Mr Potter’s 1,139. However, Mr Potter won the seat after Greens preferences put him across the two-party preferred line 53 – 47.