Opposition Indigenous policy spokesperson Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has called on the Australian Electoral Commission to maintain the integrity of voting in remote areas, arguing that in her experience, some Indigenous people are taken advantage of.

Tuesday saw a record 542,141 votes cast on the first day of early voting for the May 3 election, as Senator Price, one of two NT Senators vying for re-election, called on anyone who sees dodgy behaviour at polling booths to report it to the AEC, according to NT News.

The Warlpiri/Celtic woman said remote communities need the most change in the country and deserve to be treated with respect. She said she was hopeful the "AEC have got their finger on the pulse" and will stamp out "unscrupulous behaviour" if it occurs.

"People in the bush need to be able to participate in a democracy effectively and make informed decisions when they go to vote as well," she said, as reported by NT News.

"And so that has always been a concern of mine."

Of the estimated 53,150 Indigenous people in the NT of voting age, 46,733 (87.9 per cent) were enrolled to vote as of June 30 last year—the second lowest rate in the country after Western Australia.

More than 6,000 First Nations people are not currently enrolled.

Senator Price said the AEC revealed during Senate Estimates it only requires two people to substantiate a claim of dodgy behaviour at a voting booth for it to be investigated by the AEC.

However, she argued in her experience, "I have not seen this take place".

"I'm keeping an eye on the AEC as well to make sure that they're doing the job that needs to be done to support these individuals," Senator Price said.

"Especially for those whose language is not English to begin with, where English is the second or third language to them, and they need support.

"They need to be able to participate in a democracy."

After the Voice referendum, where Indigenous communities in the NT bucked the national trend and overwhelmingly voted Yes, Senator Price claimed - without evidence - people were handing out how-to-vote cards in part to "overpower vulnerable Aboriginal communities".

In the vast electorate of Lingiari, all but one voting booth showed support for the yes vote, ranging from 59.9 per cent to 92.1 per cent.

Senator Price said at the time, "One thing we do know is the way in which Indigenous people in remote communities are exploited for the purpose of somebody else's agenda".

"I think we probably need to look at the way the AEC…conduct themselves when it comes to remote polling at elections, at referendums," she said.

"There is a lot that goes on in remote communities that the rest of Australia doesn't get to see. If we had cameras in those remote communities, at those polling booths, Australia would see what goes on within those communities. There's a lot of manipulation."

There has regularly been concerns raised about the disenfranchisement of Indigenous voters in remote communities due to a lack of polling stations and effective communication.

In the 2022 election, Lingiari had the lowest postal vote in the country at just 4.5 per cent, due largely to the lack of regular postal delivery services across the electorate. Furthermore, it saw a voter turnout of 66.8 per cent—the lowest in the country, with a drop in mobile voting.

The electorate relies heavily on mobile polling teams to collect votes by visiting remote communities during the election campaign, with the last election seeing mobile teams collecting ten times more votes in Lingiari than any other electorate in the country.

Earlier this month, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy expressed concern over the ability of First Nations people in the Northern Territory to vote in the upcoming election, with wet weather predicted to impact remote communities.

"What we saw in terms of the Northern Territory election and the low voter turnout, that has been front and centre...," Senator McCarthy said, "but I am conscious that the Australian Electoral Commission is aware of that".

Highlighting the overwhelming number of remote electorates in the NT that voted Yes in the Voice Referendum, she added: "We're obviously conscious that there's been a different feeling on events for First Nations people and families. So, we're travelling and doing our best to communicate the fact that an election is coming up."

In the recent WA state election, residents of the remote town of Nullagine, 1,300km north of Perth, had their mobile polling cancelled in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Zelia.

The town's 1,200 residents faced a 400km trip to Newman to vote, with the one-hour window for remote polling in Marble Bar - a 200km round trip from Nullagine - unable to be accessed as the road between the two towns was closed.