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Bill Shorten Backs Electronic Voting For Federal Elections

The Labor leader says getting the election result has been too slow.
Shorten wants e-voting to speed up election counts.
Jason Reed / Reuters
Shorten wants e-voting to speed up election counts.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says Australia should look at electronic voting for future federal elections.

Conceding defeat to the coalition on Sunday, Shorten said an electronic system could help the nation determine more quickly the winners of future elections.

It's been eight days since the nation went to the polls on July 2.

The Labor leader said he would write to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to offer bipartisanship in laying the groundwork for new laws allowing electronic voting.

"We're a grown up democracy, it shouldn't be taking eight days to find out who's won and who's lost," Mr Shorten told reporters on Sunday.

He said he did not want to detract from the Australian Electoral Commission's professionalism as the vote count continues into its eighth day.

Five seats -- Capricornia, Cowan, Herbert, Hindmarsh and Flynn -- remain in the balance and the AEC is still sorting and tallying postal ballots.

According to the AEC, the coalition is winning in 76 seats compared to Labor's 69. The Greens have taken one seat, with 4 going to other candidates.

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