Australia Votes and Democracy Sausages

For this Federal election polling day is May 18. and we've been under siege with political canvassing for what seems much longer than the three weeks or so since the election date was announced. What with the robo calls - automated political spiels on the phone, the endless advertising not to mention the photo ops you couldn't miss it if you tried.

So far so simple but voting in Australia for those who don't live here works differently than in some other democracies. For a start, while the incumbent government sets the day for the election which can be any date within the four year cycle, that's as far as their influence goes. Our elections are held under the supervision of an independent statutory body, the Australian Electoral Commission. The AEC handles voter registration, electorate redistributions to ensure fairness as population changes, runs polling places, prints ballot papers and counts the votes.

Voting is compulsory for every citizen over the age of eighteen with a few exceptions like diminished mental capacity or imprisonment and this taken very seriously. You are fined if you don't vote. To ensure that everyone can vote teams are sent out to remote areas and portable polling booths are taken to hospitals and nursing homes. If you aren't covered by all this and still can't get to a polling booth on the day you can either vote early at a pre polling centre or apply for a postal vote. Pre polling opens three weeks before polling day. I've already voted that way because I find standing in line at the polling booth too hard on my back and so have many others but sometimes I apply for a postal vote. There really is no excuse for not voting.

Unlike many other countries we have a preferential system of voting which is a little complicated but ensures that our votes do all count. It can also mean that with assigning preferences and postal votes trickling in for several weeks after polling closes close fought seats can take a while to be decided. The vast majority of results, though, are clear on the night so we usually know who has won by the end of the first evening's counting.

Are you wondering about democracy sausages? These are a real if unofficial part of Australian elections. Many polling places are located in schools so they take to opportunity to raise money. Some have cake stalls, a few might include handcrafts but the most popular is the democracy sausage stall. These sell barbecued sausages served up in a bread roll or rolled in a slice of buttered bread topped with sauce and/or fried onion. It's such a thing that you'll hear people say they're going to get a democracy sausage instead of going to vote. There is even a website telling you which centres have democracy sausages plus a Facebook page which tells you where you can find other kinds of stalls. We take voting seriously but we do like a bit of fun as well.