Everything you need to know about voting in the upcoming Australian election in 2022, including information on how to vote if you have Covid.

This guide will provide you with all the information you require regarding the election process in Australia in 2022.

The day of the Australian federal election in 2022 is scheduled for Saturday, May 21.

On this page of the Australian Electoral Commission website, you can locate your electorate by entering your address. The results of the 2019 election in each electorate are available on the Tally Room site of the commission. However, it is important to keep in mind that the boundaries of some seats in Victoria and Western Australia have since changed. On the election blog maintained by Antony Green of the ABC, you will be able to read about what the implications of those changes are.

At the voting booth, you will each receive two separate pieces of paper.

The smaller of the two is for the House of Representatives, which is chosen through a system called preferential voting. In order for your vote to be counted, you will need to put a number in each box according to the order of your preferences.

The larger one is for the Senate, which has 76 members and is composed of 12 representatives from each state and two representatives from each territory.

On the ballot for the Senate, you have a choice between two different options.

To begin, you should give at least six of the squares located above the line a number to denote the preferred order of the political parties or groups that you have selected.

You also have the option to vote "below the line," which means you will cast separate ballots for each of the candidates nominated by the various parties and groups. To cast a vote that is counted as valid in this scenario, you need to check at least 12 boxes.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has expanded the provision of voting by phone, which was traditionally used for blind or low-vision Australians, to accommodate individuals who may be required to isolate themselves because of Covid or because they are a close contact of someone who does have Covid. However, it has cautioned that the procedure might not be completely error-free.

Originally, the rules stated that the only people who would be eligible to vote via phone would be those who had a positive test for Covid after 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 17th. However, in response to legal threats and complaints that the rule would effectively mean more than 100,000 people would not be able to vote, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) indicated that it would change the rules to allow voting by phone for anyone who tested positive beginning at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, May 13th.

Once you have completed your civic duty, one of the defining characteristics of the democratic system in Australia is that you are able to purchase a sausage sizzle or another type of snack from one of the stalls located at the location where you have voted.

If you are looking for the best food that is currently available in your electorate, there is now a website that you can go to.

It will provide information on everything that is available, from sausage sizzles serving vegetarian and Halal food to cake stalls and candy stands. In addition to this, it will specify whether or not the booth is accessible to people using wheelchairs and the hours it is open.

In the past, there have been polling places that have put in a significant amount of effort with their stalls, and there is no doubt that we will see some more of that on Saturday.

This year there are a few seats that stand out as being especially intriguing to keep an eye on. Previous safe seats have become less predictable as a result of the presence of more independent candidates, the retirement of sitting members, and the entry of minor parties into the fray.

Labor needs to gain at least seven seats for it to be able to form a majority government, while the Coalition, in order to remain in power, must make up for any losses with gains elsewhere.

In the state of Queensland, the Liberal National Party's hold on the seat of Brisbane is being challenged by both Labor and the Greens, and in the central seat of Flynn, the retirement of well-liked LNP MP Ken O'Dowd means that One Nation and the United Australia party will have a significant amount of influence on the election that will take place on Saturday.

Both Labor and the Liberals are optimistic that they can take seats away from the other in New South Wales. Within Sydney's metropolitan area, the western suburb of Lindsay has reliably gone with the victorious candidate in 13 of the last 14 elections.

The incumbent member of the Liberal Party, Melissa McIntosh, holds the seat with a margin of 5%, but the Labor Party candidate, Trevor Ross, is hoping to turn it red.

There is a head-to-head competition between the Liberal party and the teal independents in Victoria. In Kooyong, Monique Ryan is campaigning to oust the incumbent treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, and in Goldstein, former journalist Zoe Daniel is competing against the incumbent Liberal Tim Wilson.

There is also a close contest in the district of Chisholm, which was won by the liberal Gladys Liu in 2019 by a margin of only 1,100 votes. To prevent the Labor Party's candidate Carina Garland from snagging it, she needs to hold on to each and every one of them.

And in Tasmania, the seat of Bass, which is currently held by the Liberal Party, is in danger of falling to the Labor Party. Bridget Archer, a Liberal, was able to squeak by with a victory in 2019 by a margin of only 600 votes. Even though she has a lot of support from the voters, there is no guarantee that she will be able to defeat former party member Ross Hart.

Despite the fact that Labor's lead in opinion polls shrunk in the final week of the campaign, polling data that was released on Friday suggested that a surge in last-minute support for the Coalition would not be enough to see it retain government power.

Roy Morgan and the Australian's Newspoll polls, both of which were published late on Friday, showed a two-party-preferred vote of 53-47 in favor of the opposition. This represented a significant enough shift toward Labor for the party to declare victory.

Due to the high level of support for minor parties and independents, the Roy Morgan poll predicted that Albanese would emerge from Saturday's election with a majority. However, the polling company warned that there was a strong possibility that its forecast majority win for Labor would not be definitively confirmed on the night of the election. as preferences were handed out and votes from postal ballots were tallied

Following on the heels of the Essential poll conducted by the Guardian on Wednesday, these two polls point to a lead for Labor that is similarly slim but sufficient.

You can click here to read more about the most recent Essential poll that was conducted by political editor Katharine Murphy.

That is a very interesting query. In the previous election, every major poll had predicted a victory for Labor, but we all know how that turned out.

But following the unexpected victory of Scott Morrison in 2019, polling companies implemented new methodologies in an effort to improve accuracy.

It won't be long before we know whether or not that strategy was successful.

More information on how the polls have shifted can be found in Elias Visontay's article.

By using a preferential voting system, Australian citizens choose their local representatives in the House of Representatives and their state senators to represent them in the Senate.

It is important to have a solid understanding of how preferences are counted because they could be the deciding factor in who is elected in races that are extremely close.

In this TikTok, Matilda Boseley goes over everything a voter should know before heading to the polls, including the following:

Some parties have done preference deals For example, the Queensland Liberal National party has made the decision to direct their Senate preferences to One Nation. In response, the leader of One Nation, Pauline Hanson, has stated that her party will direct their Senate preferences to help members of the conservative Coalition.

The Green Party has announced that they will recommend to their supporters across the country that they vote for Labor rather than the Liberal Party.

Except for Tasmania, where the Jacqui Lambie Network has been given the second spot for the Senate election, Labor is preferencing the Greens as the second choice in every state and territory, with the exception of the ACT, where an independent candidate named David Pocock will get it.

In key marginal seats like Wentworth, Kooyong, and Curtin, Labor is also allocating second spots to candidates who identify as teal independents.

Due to the large number of campaigns being run by independent candidates and candidates affiliated with smaller parties, the outcome of this election is likely to come down to preferences in key battleground seats.

Before you go to the polls, read this article by Ben Raue to get informed on everything you need to know about preferences.

During these elections, the struggle for control of the lower house has been the primary focus of attention. However, the Senate will be essential in determining what the new government will be able to do and what it will be unable to do.

On Saturday, your ballot for the Senate will most likely contain a variety of microparties, each with their own particular interests. Josh Butler walks you through the various minor parties and the positions that they hold.

Before Saturday, it is customary for news organizations to publish an editorial in which they support one of the major political parties. You can read the opinion piece published in the Guardian Australia urging voters to reject spin and inaction here.

The Nine Network's mastheads in Melbourne and Sydney are also supporting Labor. Even though it "shares the public's lack of enthusiasm for Albanese and his timid opposition," the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) argues that a Coalition that is devoid of imagination does not deserve another term in office. According to The Age, the overarching theme of the campaign is integrity, and Morrison has reportedly failed on that front.

The Australian Financial Review (AFR), which is also owned by Nine, is of the opinion that Albanese has not made the case either against Morrison or for himself.

The Australian is also supporting the re-election of the Coalition government, citing Prime Minister Scott Morrison's management of the economy, the influenza epidemic, and national security as reasons.

The live blog of the Australian edition of The Guardian will bring you coverage from all over the country.

Beginning at 6 o'clock on Saturday evening, Antony Green will join Leigh Sales, David Speers, Annabel Crabb, Andrew Probyn, and Laura Tingle in providing coverage of the results on the ABC program Australia Votes.

At Sky, Kieran Gilbert, Andrew Clennell, Tom Connell, and Peta Credlin, host of Sky After Dark, will provide coverage beginning at 5 o'clock, and they will be joined by election analyst Tom Connell.

Also beginning at 5 o'clock, the coverage on Seven will be led by political editor Mark Riley, along with Natalie Barr and Michael Usher.

The election coverage on Nine also begins at 5 o'clock with a panel discussion hosted by Peter Overton and Alicia Loxley, as well as analysis from the network's political editor Chris Uhlmann.

The coverage on Ten begins at six o'clock in the evening, and Sandra Sully, Peter van Onselen, Waleed Aly, Hugh Riminton, Jan Fran, and Narelda Jacobs will be your hosts.

Additionally, Raf Epstein and Sabra Lane will be hosting live coverage on ABC radio, and Thomas Oriti will be covering all of the most recent news developments throughout the night. You can tune in live through the ABC radio station in your area, ABC NewsRadio, or RN, or you can download the ABC Listen app.