Where do I vote, and every other question you have about the election

By 6pm Saturday, Australians need to have voted in the federal election, or else face a fine.

More than 17 million people are registered to vote in Australia, close to 97 per cent of eligible Australians.

So the question is, where do you vote?

Where do I vote on election day?

If you type in your suburb name or postcode, it will provide a list of polling stations in your electorate.

The list is alphabetical, which means you will probably need to scroll down to find the polling station closest to you.

There are usually a few polling stations in every suburb, which means going to vote on election day is unlikely to be much of a hike.

If you want to just wing it, you can walk over to the nearest school, town hall or church.

There’s a pretty good chance you’ll be able to vote there and grab a democracy sausage too.

How do I know which electorate I’m in?

Just because a polling station is close to you doesn’t mean it is in your electorate.

Electorates have to have borders somewhere, which means your neighbour across the street may not have the same ballot as you.

But if you rock up to your nearest polling place, they’ll likely have a box for your electorate.

Most election day voting stations are not open for early voting this week.

Fewer locations are available for early voting, which means you should check rather than rock up to your local primary school and accidentally wander into the hall in the middle of assembly.

But the same link to the AEC will advise you where to go. You simply click the “Before Election Day” button.

When can I vote on election day?

Polling places open on Saturday at 8am and close at 6pm sharp.

If you are already in the queue to vote, you will be able to cast a ballot.

But if you arrive at 6.01pm, you will likely be turned away.

When you go to vote, you will be handed two ballots – a little green one and a ginormous white one.

The green ballot is for the House of Representatives.

This ballot determines which party will form government and choose the Prime Minister.

You need to number every box, with a one by your favourite candidate, a two by your second favourite, and so on. The person you least want to win should have the highest number of the ballot.

If you don’t number every box, your ballot is invalid and won’t be counted.

The big white ballot is for the Senate. 

You need to make six choices above the line or 12 choices below the line.

Australia has a compulsory voting system, which means if you are registered to vote, you need to show up and have your name crossed off.

If you don’t, you will get a $20 fine.

It is also your right to file an invalid ballot.

That’s not for us to say. But as an Australian voter, you can vote for whoever you like.

Nobody has the right to know who you vote for. Under our democratic rules, known internationally as the Australian ballot, you fill in your ballot in a private booth, and put it in a box without anyone seeing.

If anyone pressures you to reveal who you voted for, or tries to intimidate you into voting one way or another, you are entitled to report them to police.

Outside the polling station, volunteers will try and hand you “how-to-vote” cards.

You don’t have to take them, and if you do, you don’t have to take their advice.

What are the major parties?

Australia is mistakenly thought of as a two-party democracy, but that is incorrect. There are dozens of registered parties across the country, all with their own policy platforms.

Scott Morrison is the leader of the Liberal Party, who form government at present in coalition with the National Party.

The Liberal Party is a centre-right party, as is the National Party. The Nationals tend to represent rural and regional electorates.

Anthony Albanese is the leader of the Labor Party, which is the main opposition party. They are a centre-left party.

But there are other parties on most ballots. The Greens are further left than Labor. One Nation is further right than the Liberals.

There are also parties with similar names to the major parties. The Liberal Democrats are a libertarian-leaning party but are unaffiliated with the Liberals.

The Democratic Labour Party split from Labor in 1955, and now has a very different policy platform.

The order the parties appear on the ballot is randomised. Just because a particular party is in the top spot doesn’t mean anything.