Nearly 15 per cent of all Territory voters have already cast their ballot in the first three days of early voting – with some electorates seeing more than 20 per cent of voters turning out early – as the 2024 NT general election kicks into gear, figures released by the NT Electoral Commission show.

During the first three days of the pre-polling period for the Northern Territory election, a record-breaking number of over 20,000 early votes have been issued, the highest turnout of early votes since the option was offered to NT voters in the 2020 election.

The first three days of pre-polling saw 20,840 people taking advantage of ballot booths opening early. More than 7,400 postal votes had also been sent across the NT by the end of Wednesday.

“We’ve certainly seen where the eligibility to early vote has been removed, people are embracing the early voting,” NT Electoral Commissioner Kirsten Kelly told the ABC.

“This is the second election where that eligibility hasn’t been required, so I think people are now familiar with it being an option. We’d certainly hope to see that trend continue.”

Early voting commenced on Monday and will be available at numerous locations throughout the Territory up until and including the August 24 election day.

Early voting figures released show Katherine voters led the charge with nearly 26 per cent of voters already casting their ballots in the first three days.

The electorates of Sanderson, Casuarina and Nelson have seen nearly 24 per cent of voters cast their ballots early. Johnston, Karama, Nightcliff, Goyder, Wanguri, Fannie Bay and Port Darwin have all polled more than 20 per cent of their voters already.

Many of those northern suburbs seats are expected to be close on August 24, as the CLP looks to break into a number of those seats, including Wanguri and Karama, for the first time. Independents are also expected to make a strong showing in those seats, as well as in Johnston.

The early voting centre at Eaton has been the most attended as of Wednesday, recording 3,332 votes by the end of the day.

A record number of Territorians have registered to vote this election, with the NTEC stating that 93 per cent of the eligible population have registered.

“We have, at the close of roll, 153,250 people who can take part in this election. It’s the highest the roll has ever been,” Ms Kelly said. “More people than ever can vote in the election … an increase of 8.6 per cent since the 2020 election.”

The Australian Electoral Commission increased remote enrolment significantly in advance of the Voice to Parliament referendum, she said.

ABC election analyst Antony Green cautioned about reading too much into the high level of early voting, suggesting it may not mean the swing is on against the incumbent Labor Government.

“It was expected to be about 75 per cent [at the end of pre-polling] this election — that’s the expectation. Everyone is expecting the rate of early voting to continue to increase,” he told the ABC.

Voters in the 2016 NT election cast 36 per cent of their ballots during pre-polling. At the 2020 election, that figure jumped to 53 per cent.

“I don’t think we need to overanalyse whether this means one thing or another about who’s going to win. It’s expected that there would be a lot of early voting,” Mr Green said.