IT was a most unremarkable day at North East polling booths.
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While volunteers battled it out for the attention of voters in Melbourne’s sandbelt or the marginals of Ballarat and Bendigo, things moved at a country crawl in Benambra and Ovens Valley.
With more than a quarter of votes taken at pre-poll for both seats, booths across the electorates were much quieter than in previous years.
The lack of competition in the two safe seats saw a return to the friendly “country politics” of old, compared with the dirty tricks that abounded last year’s federal election.
Volunteers handing out how-to-vote cards today from all parties said the atmosphere was vastly different to the “nastiness” reported in the race for Indi, where independent Cathy McGowan took down Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella.
Allegations had swirled at that time of campaigners — from all sides — tearing off or covering other candidates’ posters and hurling insults.
But on Saturday, it was back to a friendly rivalry in Wodonga, where Liberal volunteers even offered to help Labor members with their posters — after first covering three quarters of Wodonga Senior Secondary College with their own, that is.
“You snooze you lose,” joked one Liberal volunteer.
“Anyway, they were here before us!”
“We were here at 3am,” admitted Eric Kerr, campaign manager for Benambra Labor candidate Jennifer Podesta.
“It has been very friendly overall.
“Some people think you can’t, but you can be friends with other political parties.”
Greens upper house candidate Jenny O’Connor said she believed politics in rural communities was generally far friendlier than in metro areas.
“I think because we all have to come together so much more, we all find a way to get along,” she said.
“If it’s all above board there can be no cause for angst.”
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