Tasmanian Electoral commissioner Andrew Hawkey said that number was encouraging.  

A fight is on between the North and the south with about 12 per cent of eligible voters from the north returning their vote in the first week. 

More than 15 per cent of Southern voters have returned their vote, and about 16 per cent of voters from the state’s West have cast their opinion. 

Mr Hawkey said he expected a “big surge” of Northern votes to be returned next week. 

“Because of the Launceston Show public holiday we’ve had poor return rates,” he said. 

However, 400 more people have voted in the City of Launceston electorate, than the City of Hobart. 

Flinders Island has returned the highest per cent of votes so far, with just under 30 per cent of the region’s votes being returned. 

Ballot material started arriving in Launceston on October 8 to allow Northern voters enough time to return their votes, Mr Hawkey said.

About one million envelopes were printed for the election. 

“400,000 of them have to be individually printed with addresses and a barcode with an individual election number,” Mr Hawkey said.  

Votes have to be received by October 30, otherwise they will not be counted. 

The votes will come into Hobart and be sorted into each individual council, Mr Hawkey said. 

“We will pull them out of the envelopes, take the declarations off, and mark them off the roll.

“We remove the declaration flap, which has the person’s name and signature on it so they’re anonymous votes,” he said. 

The votes will then be moved to the state’s counting centres in Hobart, Launceston and Devonport. 

Counting will start at 10am on October 30. 

While you're with us, did you know that you can now sign up to receive breaking news updates and daily headlines direct to your inbox. Sign up here.