Behind in the polls and embarking on a last-ditch campaign blitz, Queensland’s premier is wooing undecided voters with a tantalising democracy sausage pledge.

More than 1.2 million Queenslanders have already cast their vote before Saturday’s poll, with the Liberal National Party aiming to end Labor’s nine-year reign.

It represents more than a third of the Sunshine State’s 3.68 million eligible voters, eclipsing the number of early voters during the 2020 election amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the stark rise in early voting, Premier Steven Miles made his first commitment in days by promising democracy sausages at pre-poll booths if Labor wins a fourth term.

“An important reform to democracy that I would like to see would be democracy sausages at pre-poll,” he told reporters outside Nambour Hospital on Thursday.

“I commit to Queenslanders to work as hard as I can to ensure that there are sausages at pre-polls.

“Not sure how to do it for postal votes, but we’ll work on that.”

Some 690,000 postal votes have already been processed ahead of Saturday’s poll.

As more Australians vote before polling day, the democracy sausage tradition could be on borrowed time.

Queensland University of Technology adjunct professor John Mickel warned seats like McConnel, where about 35,000 voters have already cast their ballots, Cairns with 20,586 and Hervey Bay with 21,746 shouldn’t bother turning on the barbecue.

“In McConnell … if you’re setting up a sausage sizzle there on Saturday, don’t bother – you will be losing money,” he told AAP.

Almost 19,000 votes have been cast in Opposition Leader David Crisafulli’s electorate of Broadwater on the Gold Coast.

But all is not lost for those who enjoy a snag served with bread, sauce, onions and a smile.

“In some places there’s still plenty of sausages to die in the name of democracy,” Prof Mickel said.

Political leaders are hustling on the hustings to sway voters before the final ballots are cast on Saturday.

Mr Miles has committed to visiting 36 seats in the 36 hours to 7pm on Friday.

He wants to beat former Labor premier Anna Bligh’s 30 seats in 36 hours in 2012, which failed to stave off a landslide defeat for the government.

“I think what you’ve all seen of me over the last 10 months is I’m competitive and that I like to stay busy,” he said.

The premier’s blitz began on the Sunshine Coast, where he could be seen running to the car to try and complete the record.

His opponent Mr Crisafulli is hitting 12 seats in southeast Queensland on Thursday, with his deputy Jarrod Bleijie also doing a blitz on the Sunshine Coast.

This post was originally published on Michael West.