Overseas Australians urged to prepare early to vote for the federal election

Australians living, working or holidaying overseas are urged to cast their votes now to make sure their vote counts in the 2016 federal election schedule on July 2, Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said in a statement on Thursday.

Rogers said the easiest way to vote for Australians overseas was in-person at one of the 94 overseas voting centers the Australian Election Commission (AEC) has established around the world, mainly in Australia's diplomatic missions.

Eligible overseas voters who want to cast a postal vote are urged to apply immediately to allow time for voting materials to be mailed to their nominated overseas address.

"Australians who are enrolled but will be overseas on Saturday 2 July should plan ahead of time to make sure they can cast their vote," Rogers said.

"Don't leave voting to the last minute and don't assume our overseas voting centres are open on election day, Saturday 2 July, even if they share a similar time zone to Australia."

Overseas voters are recommended to download a postal vote application from AEC website and electronically send the completed form to one of the 94 diplomatic missions where overseas voting centers are located. These missions will directly mail ballot papers to voters, rather than the ballot papers being sent from Australia.

At the latest federal election in 2013, 75,816 overseas votes were cast. Australia's largest overseas voting center was at Australia House in London, with 15,003 votes cast.

The first votes in Australia's federal election have been cast on June 14, when early-voting centers opened. Over 30 percent of eligible voters are expected to vote early.

A number of polls have suggested that the election will be a tight race with News Limiteds Newspoll predicting Malcolm Turnbull's Liberal Government will retain power over Bill Shortens Labor Party, despite support for each party being locked at 50 percent. Endit