Election body axes 730 polling places

Voters will have access to fewer polling places at the next federal election.

The Australian Electoral Commission has decided to scrap 730 polling places at the election due in 2016, figures released to a Senate committee show.

More than half of the abolished polling places are in Melbourne and Sydney.

However, 26 remote polling places will be shut down because the small number of votes cast at them does not justify their existence.

The AEC sets a minimum for how many votes need to be cast at a polling place for it to be viable.

In the case of suburban areas, the figure is 1100 votes and for the most remote rural booths it is 100 votes.

There were 9146 polling places at the 2013 election.