Australia's electoral commission boss wants people out and about on election day casting their votes at the ballot box.
Electoral commissioner Tom Rogers told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday people should turn up on election day rather than choose to cast a postal vote.
Mr Rogers was responding to a question asked by Labor senator Tim Ayres about "lengthy delays" for people voting in the South Australian state election held last month.
The electoral commissioner said COVID-19 measures and differing community attitudes had affected the process, but voting at a polling booth was still preferable.
"None of that is to denigrate the postal voting system in Australia," Mr Rogers said.
"Sometimes there are some conspiracy theories about postal voting overseas ... none of that applies.
"My view is ... (electoral law) requires people to vote on the day unless there's a reason for them not to vote then."
Mr Rogers said the electoral commission had put in place measures to make people feel safe while voting, and to avoid large queues.
"I'm very keen on this being as normal as it possibly can be," he said.
"The less votes in envelopes, the quicker the result will be known, and the more likely that we'll have a result on the night."
Earlier, Mr Rogers refused to weigh-in on introducing voter ID laws.
"I'm loathe to get involved in the issue of the voter ID process," he said.
"That's a highly political issue. It's a matter for parliament."
The government shelved its voter ID laws in February after crossbench senators indicated they would not support them.
