The 2023 Referendum on The Voice will be voted on this coming Saturday with early voting already available in Young.

The Referendum is on changing the law to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

Early voting has been available at the Young Town Hall since last Saturday with voting on Friday open from 8.30am until 6pm.

On Saturday there will be a number of places locals will be able to cast their ballot between 8am and 6pm including:

• Young North Public School
• Young Town Hall
• Young Public School
• Wombat Soldiers Memorial Hall
• Murrumburrah Public School
• Harden Mechanics Institute
• Koorawatha Public School
• Murringo Public School
• Jugiong Memorial Hall

How to cast a formal vote

The formal voting instructions for the referendum are to clearly write either 'yes' or 'no', in full, in English.

It is that easy: given the simplicity, the AEC expects the vast, vast majority of Australian voters to follow those instructions and cast a formal vote.

Previous levels of formality

It is important to keep scale, or a lack of it in this instance, and precedent in mind when discussing this matter.

More than 99% of votes cast at the 1999 federal referendum were formal. Even of the 0.86% of informal votes, many would have had no relevance to the use of ticks or crosses.

AEC communication

Instructions for casting a formal vote - to write either yes or no in full, in English, will be:

• part of the AEC's advertising campaign,
• on the AEC website,
• in the guide delivered to all Australian households,
• an instruction by our polling officials when people are issued with their ballot paper,
• on posters in polling places, and
• on the ballot paper itself.

The law

Like an election, the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 includes 'savings provisions' - the ability to count a vote where the instructions have not been followed but the voter's intention is clear.

To find out more about voting and what the Referendum is all about visit www.aec.gov.au.