MORE than 16,000 people have already voted in the federal election, but there is still a way to go to beat the last election's tally.
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According to Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) statistics, 16,176 people had voted across Calare's polling centres in Orange, Bathurst, Lithgow and Mudgee as of Monday afternoon.
With four days of prepolling still to go, the amount is significantly short of the 26,898 people who voted early in 2013.
The busiest day across all the polling centres was Monday in Orange, with 856 people braving the snow to cast their vote.
Returning officer Dimity McKenzie said it was difficult to gauge the number of prepollers this election compared to 2013.
“Prepolling closes on Friday at 6pm so we've got an extra four days,” she said.
Ms McKenzie hoped polling day on Saturday would be fine weather, with the cold presenting some challenges.
Greens candidate for Calare Delanie Sky said changes to Senate voting, which now require voters to number six boxes above the line or 12 below, had caused confusion.
Because the AEC will accept one numbered box to allow for the change from the previous system, Ms Sky said some voters believed they had to only nominate one box in the House of Representatives as well.
“There's concern there could be a few informal votes,” she said.
With Ms Sky and Nick Xenophon Team candidate Rod Bloomfield running an open ticket, Ms Sky said she did not regret not directing the flow of preferences.
“[The how-to-vote card's] just got a one next to our names and it does say very clearly to number from one to seven in order of your choice, but not everyone reads that,” she said.
“We discussed that so extensively and we still stand by our decision,” she said.