‘Sex symbol’ McGowan says ‘beer’ when asked if he’d celebrate victory with champagne

People were encouraged to vote early in a bid to reduce polling booth queues and maintain social distancing on election day, with more early voting centres opened than usual.

The WA Electoral Commission reported on Friday that more than 755,000 votes had already been cast, including postal votes, from an electoral roll of more than 1.7m.

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Premier Mark McGowan and his wife Sarah McGowan were among the early voters, while newly minted Liberal leader Zak Kirkup cast his votes at Falcon Primary School within his Dawesville electorate south of Perth on Saturday morning.

If you’re yet to vote with just a few hours left until polling booths close, scroll through our guide on where to find the nearest one to you: Where to vote

You’re encouraged to bring a pencil, but single use pencils are being provided.

LAST MOMENTS ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL:

Tensions mounted over campaign posters in Joondalup — the most marginal seat in the state at just 0.03 per cent — on Friday night.

Labor’s incumbent MP Emily Hamilton took to social media to complain about “appalling behaviour” by Liberal candidate Sheldon Ingham and his volunteers.

Her post showed Liberal posters covering Labor’s.

“I am deeply disgusted and frustrated by the intimidating, threatening and sexist behaviour that was put upon my three young female volunteers tonight by the local Joondalup Liberal campaign including the candidate,” she wrote.

“It’s unaustralian, antidemocratic.”

The Liberals were sought for comment but reportedly pointed the finger back at Labor.

On Saturday morning, Mr Kirkup was all class, righting a Labor sign that had blown over in the wind.

Mr McGowan went to a primary school in the seat of Hillarys with his parents Mary and Dennis, who recently drove from NSW to Perth in their caravan, and the Premier helped out frying democracy sausages, as did Mr Kirkup.

Hillarys is held by Liberal Peter Katsambanis with a margin of just 0.4 per cent.

Another seat considered at risk of falling to Labor is Mr Kirkup’s Dawesville electorate, which he won in 2017 with a margin of only 0.8 per cent.

Seats to watch in the WA election

It’s been a presidential-style campaign for Labor, with posters featuring Mr McGowan alongside candidates and others by himself as the party capitalises on his rock star popularity, which soared due to his handling of the pandemic.

Mr Kirkup, on the other hand, conceded the Liberals would be defeated weeks ago and admits he may lose his seat, saying that would spell the end of his political career after just one term.

Polls have pointed to a dire result for the party, the worst tipping its lower house seats could be smashed from 13 to just two, although political analysts don’t believe the result will be quite that bad.

If Mr Kirkup does lose Dawesville, it will be the first time a conservative leader has lost their seat in WA since 1933.

PREMIER’S FINAL PITCH

Mr McGowan, who has repeatedly insisted he wouldn’t assume anything, said he was “more a beer sort of guy” when asked if he would celebrate a victory with a beer or champagne, but insisted polls were “notoriously inaccurate”.

Asked if he was feeling confident, he told reporters: “I’m confident we’ve put forward the plans and the policies that will take the state forward”.

“This is one of the most important elections, if not the most important election, in living memory,” he said.

“It’s very important that Western Australia stays the course and sticks with the team that has kept our state safe and strong over the last four years.

“We’ve obviously been through a very traumatic last year.”

KIRKUP’S FINAL PITCH

While Mr McGowan has argued it’s too risky to change teams during the pandemic, the Liberals have tried to save the furniture, saying Labor seeks “total control”, which would be bad for democracy.

Mr Kirkup reiterated previous comments it was “obviously always going to be very tough, tough election”, replying “probably not” when asked if this one was ever winnable for the Liberals.

“But what is at risk now is a Labor landslide majority and I think that would be a very big risk to the people of WA,” he told reporters.

On Facebook, he again urged West Australians to vote Liberal locally, saying it “looks after your community first and keeps important checks and balances”.

“Shout out to my Dad who came along to cast his vote with me – I wouldn’t be here today without the support of my parents,” he also wrote.

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