Voters will be allowed to take their own pens and pencils into polling booths at the March 28 Scenic Rim Council elections as a public health measure.

Officers at busy polling booths have also been instructed to keep the numbers of voters below  500 as part of extra steps to protect the public against the COVID-19 virus on election day.

Queensland Electoral Commissioner, Pat Vidgen, said it was ‘extremely unlikely’ that more than 500 people would ever be in a polling booth at any one time.

“And electors generally only spend a short period of time in a booth,” he said.

The Commission will also offer telephone voting to electors in ‘declared institutions’ such as aged care facilities.

The deadline for postal vote applications ended at 7pm last Monday, but early voting opened on Monday morning.

The pre-polling booth at the Boonah Cultural Centre is open from

• 9am - 9pm on Wednesday and Thursday this week and next week;

• 9am to 5pm on Friday and Saturday this week;

• 9am to 5pm on Monday and Tuesday next week; and

• 9am to 6pm next Friday.