THE Victorian Electoral Commission has declared it will not be rushed into risking public health as it grapples with a record council vote count.
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Turnout statewide is about to eclipse 2005's record of 75.19 per cent and the VEC expects more votes to arrive by Friday's cut-off,
Bendigo had already registered a 77.1 per cent turnout on Tuesday night, up from the 74.2 per cent total from 2016.
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All other central Victorian council's voter numbers have also surged.
Kyneton's Macedon Ranges Shire's turnout was nudging towards 80 per cent, up from 77 per cent.
All other council areas had already eclipsed the 80 per cent mark, including Castlemaine's Mount Alexander Shire where turnout had reached 86.07 per cent.
It was a nearly 10 per cent increase on 2016.
Maryborough's Central Goldfield numbers had seen a similar surge to 86.37 per cent on Tuesday night.
Voting closed last Friday but a combination of postal votes and the grand final public holiday meant some votes are still en route to election centres throughout the state.
Electoral Commissioner Warwick Gately said counts had been slowed in some parts of the state because of higher than expected turnout.
He said votes had to be "extracted" from mailed-in envelopes in preparation for counting or computer data entry.
"We must also ensure strict adherence to our COVIDSafe plan to maintain the health and wellbeing of our staff and scrutineers and this is also slowing the process," Mr Gately said.
"I ask all election participants to be patient as the wellbeing of our people and the accuracy of the process must remain the prime considerations over a rushed result."
Mr Gately also appealed to all participating scrutineers to abide by the COVIDSafe arrangements and election manager directions during counting
"Non-compliance and bad behaviour will not be tolerated," he said.