The Victorian Electoral Commission said a record number of votes were cast in the election, but the overall proportion of Victorians casting a vote continued to decline.
The 3,828,791 Lower House and 3,877,213 Upper House votes cast represented a turnout of 88.14 per cent and 88.23 per cent respectively, which is down from the 90.16 per cent recorded in the 2018 state election. More Upper House votes were cast because of the postponed Lower House vote in Narracan District.
The total reported enrolment for the 2022 state election was 4,394,465 voters, but the 50,506 electors enrolled in Narracan were removed from the turnout calculation to ensure accuracy.
More than half the 2022 votes cast were early and postal votes, as voters took advantage of extended hours at 155 early voting centres across the state.
Acting Electoral Commissioner Dana Fleming said further research was required to understand why the participation rate was declining.
“This is not a new trend in Australia, but there are likely to be a number of factors that contributed to the lower voter turnout, including COVID-19 and limited options for overseas voters, which we will explore further,” Ms Fleming said.
The level of informal voting decreased, however, with an average 5.53 per cent for the Lower House (5.83 per cent in 2018) and 3.22 per cent for the Upper House (3.96 per cent in 2018).
More Upper House votes were cast than Lower House votes due to the failed election in Narracan District.
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