The Australian Electoral Commission says a last-minute call-out helped cover thousands of COVID staff shortages, but some regional voters may still need to travel to cast their ballot.
On Wednesday, the AEC revealed some regional polling booths may not be able to open if enough workers were not found.
The electorates of concern named on Wednesday were Barker and Grey in South Australia, Flynn, Capricornia, Kennedy and Leichhardt in Queensland, and Durack and O'Connor in Western Australia.
Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said since Wednesday's call-out, more than 5,000 additional people had signed up to work on polling day in those areas.
"The new registrations mean some of the locations we identified yesterday are no longer of critical concern but others are still falling short and, given the current environment, there could be new areas of concern arise," Mr Rogers said.
"However, the impact will be limited. We will have the absolute vast majority of the 7,000 polling places we operate across the nation on election day open and operating as per usual."
The AEC said it would provide an updated list of areas of concern on Friday.
"For those areas of concern, people are putting their hand up to help deliver democracy in their community, which is great, but we need more," Mr Rogers said.
Bob Carter's local polling booth is two minutes away from his home in the small South Australian town Lochiel, but it may not open this Saturday due to staff shortages.
With applications for postal voting now closed, the absence of local polling booths could see some regional and remote residents in for a long drive to cast their votes.
Mr Carter recently had an operation and his leg needs to be elevated at all times.
"I don't know how I'll get to Snowtown, which is probably the nearest polling booth … it'll be a problem," he said.
Linton Rumble, a councillor living in the Durack electorate, said remote and regional residents should not be expected to drive long distances to vote.
He lives in Paraburdoo, where residents were preparing to drive an hour to the next town to vote until the AEC confirmed a local booth would open on Saturday.
"A person's vote and their opinion or what they believe in, it shouldn't matter what size the region is or the community, they should all have that right," he said.
"And I believe that's what a democracy is all about."
AEC state manager Cameron Stokes said closing polling booths would be the last resort.
"We are doing everything we can to avoid any of these closures and if we do reach that point, we will certainly communicate with people about that," he told ABC Radio Adelaide on Thursday morning.
"But we are very, very close and the number of people putting their name forward is really encouraging so we're hopeful it doesn't get to that point."
Mr Stokes defended the late notice of the staff shortage, saying the situation had "started to ramp up in the last 24 hours" as workers cancelled due to COVID.
Mr Stokes did not specify the number of staff the AEC was seeking in South Australia, but said opportunities existed across the state.
"We're not talking about huge numbers of people … we're really looking for just a few extra people in some of those remote locations," he told ABC Radio Adelaide.
Tony Pasin, the Liberal incumbent for the South Australian seat of Barker, said the situation was "disappointing".
"I just can't believe we're two days out from a federal election and we're having this discussion," he told ABC Radio Adelaide.
"It doesn't seem right."
No vote for some Australians with COVID
Meanwhile, some Australians who tested positive for COVID this week may be unable to vote in the election at all.
People who tested positive for COVID after 6:00pm on May 17 can vote by phone.
They must register their positive PCR or rapid antigen test prior to registering for a phone vote, and can do so before Saturday.
People who tested positive between May 14 and May 17 were eligible to apply for a postal vote – but the deadline for applications closed on Wednesday.
That means anyone who tested positive prior to Tuesday evening but did not apply for a postal vote in time will be unable to vote on election day if still in isolation.
In Australia, people who test positive for COVID must isolate for seven days.
The AEC said phone voting was an emergency service for "people who had no other option after their positive test", and deadlines for its use were set in legislation and regulations.
"The intention of the legislation is for each cohort of voters to have an option available to them and for people to plan their vote," its Twitter post read.
