By Jeremy Cook
Candidates were out in force this week as the first of the Southern Downs’s almost 40,000 enrolled voters cast their ballot ahead of this month’s council election.
Several candidates were spotted distributing how to vote cards to voters outside Warwick Town Hall, one of two Southern Downs locations where early voting opened on Monday.
Early voting will remain open from 9am to 5pm on weekdays in Warwick and at St Paul’s Anglican Church Hall in Stanthorpe for voters wanting to cast their ballot before election day.
Polling booths at both locations will stay open an extra hour to 6pm on Friday 15 March.
With campaigning entering its final two weeks, candidates look set to make one last push to win over voters.
A number of community forums, organised seemingly by several non-incumbents, have already been held in some of the region’s smaller townships, including Leyburn on Monday and Killarney on Tuesday. Two more forums will be held over the coming days in Wallangarra on Friday and Pratten on Saturday.
Stanthorpe and Granite Belt Chamber of Commerce will also host a “Meet The Candidates” evening on Thursday 7 March from 6pm.
