No campaigners may have made a grave error on voting day as millions of Australians head to the polls.
Those campaigning against the Indigenous Voice to Parliament have “arrogantly abandoned” their posts outside polling booths, a Melbourne-based political expert has claimed, which could see the Yes side claw back some votes.
Kos Samaras, founder of political consultancy firm Redbridge and a former key Victorian Labor strategist, made the observation on Saturday morning.
“Absence of No volunteers at polling places is stark,” he wrote on social platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
He said this was good news for the Yes campaign, who could “convert” the undecided at the 11th hour.
“The biggest and most overlooked driver of the No vote is actually apathy,” he added.
“Not being present is a mistake.”
News.com.au contacted Mr Samaras for additional comment.
New research has found that up to one in five voters are tipped to fail to even cast a vote.
Both Yes and No sides are also warning that voter apathy and low voter turnout could skew the results.
Follow our live coverage of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
It’s not just Mr Samaras; others have also noticed that No campaigners are few and far between in some parts of the major cities.
In the inner Sydney suburbs of Leichardt, Summer Hill and Redfern, voters told news.com.au not a single No campaigner was in sight.
It was the same in Greenwich, on the North Shore, and Bardwell, in the south, although it’s worth noting these areas have been forecast to have a large amount of Yes voters compared to other regions across the country.
Elsewhere, at the Arthur Philip School polling booth in Parramatta, in western Sydney, there were five Yes campaigners to just one No lobbyist.
Toni Wren, a Yes campaigner at the site, believed the Yes camp had come out in stronger force than their No counterparts “because there are a lot more people who are willing to stand up and volunteer because Australians want a better Australia”.
Sally Cowling, also at the same Yes station, reiterated this, telling news.com.au “I think Yes attracts a lot more people who are deeply, deeply committed and want to see change and create hope in this country”.
The one No campaigner at the same location, George*, said: “Obviously we are limited on resources compared to the Yes campaign but we’re determined”.
Matt Cunningham, Sky News’ Northern Australia correspondent, made a similar observation at an Alice Springs voting centre.
“The good news for Yes campaign is they’ve outnumbered the No at the polling booth,” he said.
However, he added, “Most of the people have been politely declining invitations from both sides for how to vote brochures.”
An X user observed “Didn’t see anyone engaging with the many Yes or few No volunteers. Nearly all voters in the queue did not have a yes or no pamphlet in their hand. Make of it what you may.”
It comes as a last minute poll found that there had been a modest increase in support of the Voice in the final week of the campaign.
Newspoll conducted for The Weekend Australian shows a three-point swing toward a Yes vote over the past week to 37 per cent.
But a clear majority – 57 per cent of surveyed voters – told pollsters they intend to vote No.
The number of undecided voters has dwindled to just 6 per cent of voters.
To secure victory on Saturday night the Yes campaign must secure not only a national majority but a majority of six states.
Voting has been opened since 8am, yet long queues have already begun to form.
Almost half of the 17.6 million people on the electoral roll have already cast their votes in the referendum, according to the AEC.
About 8.41 million Aussies have voted early, with over one million votes cast on Friday alone, making it the biggest single day of pre-polling in Australia’s history.
Voting closes at 6pm local time.