After a million South Australians are set to cast their votes in a state election that will either return Liberal Prime Minister Steven Marshall for a second term or install Peter Malinauskas of Labor as the next leader of the SA.
More than 1.2 million people registered to vote, but about 300,000 submitted an early ballot paper or registered to vote by mail.
They could be decisive for the result, along with six independents who would help one of the major parties to form a government if the result is a dependent parliament.
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Recent opinion polls have put Labor in a commanding position and while the opposition needs just two per cent boost to collect the required five seats, it remains unclear whether the boost will go to the right places, a series of marginal seats for the government. .
Mr Malinauskas has focused heavily on health throughout the election campaign, promising to spend big on fixing a sick system, plagued by ambulance ramps and congested hospitals.
But this has allowed Mr Marshall to launch a sustained attack on Labor’s major spending promises, warning of higher taxes and costs if the opposition wins.
If the government falls, it will be the first in Australia to suffer such a fate during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although it is not clear how much SA the handling of the virus will turn voters.
The state did well in the early stages of the pandemic but the government came later for criticism, sometimes to maintain local restrictions, and then to open the borders of the SA as the Omicron wave hit.
Elections open on Saturday at 8 a.m. and close at 6 p.m., with the SA Electoral Commission warning that a result for some days is not known.
Special measures are used across the state’s 690 polling stations, enforced by social distance and everyone must wear a mask.
Each polling station will also have a hygiene officer to ensure that polling stations are regularly disinfected.
All staff working at the polling station have been fully vaccinated.
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