On Saturday we as a nation girded our loins, stood in the queues for our ballot papers and pencil all in a COVID safe social distancing way, filled them in and posted them in the ballot boxes. Then we went out to enjoy our Democracy sausages. Then all that was left to do was to wait for the counting to start which it did as soon as the polls closed at 6:00 PM.
If you haven't heard of a Democracy sausage you're obviously not from Australia. To bring you up date with this very Australian custom I should explain that polling places here are largely placed at schools and other community buildings. Because we have compulsory voting and there are consequently crowds the school P & C (Parents & Citizens) associations and others have been taking the opportunity to fund raise with stalls selling baked goods and other things probably since Federation.
This all went up a notch in the mid 1980s. That's when we noticed our local primary school adding a sausage sizzle - a freshly cooked sausage wrapped in slice of buttered bread with tomato sauce. They weren't the only ones with that idea, of course, and soon the sausage sizzle had spread across the country and morphed to cater for just about everyone by adding vegetarian sausages, buns with a choice of condiments - and sometimes fried onion. Yum.
Somewhere around 2010 we started to hear the term Democracy sausage being used and soon everyone was calling it that. Well, why wouldn't we. Australians take their voting seriously but we also like a bit of fun along the way. It wasn't long before there were websites showing just where you could get your Democracy sausage and which places had the best menu. From then pretty much everyone I know was saying they were going to get their Democracy sausage instead of saying they were going to vote.
I missed out on mine this year. Due to my inability to stand for long periods - at the busiest part of the day the queues can mean you are standing for quite some time - I did a pre-poll vote. This is an early voting option - they are open for about a fortnight prior to election day and cater for those who are disabled or who for whatever reason will be unable to attend a polling place on polling day. Alternatively you can cast a postal vote and as well this year there was the additional option of phone voting for those forced into isolation by COVID. We do like to make sure everyone who is eligible is enrolled and can vote here.
As Pisces took me to the pre-polling place he was able to vote there as well but there was a problem. He was so conflicted at missing out on his Democracy sausage he actually considered going to our local primary school and buying one. Commonsense prevailed sort of because while he stayed home he decided he'd cook sausages for lunch.
2 comments:
A Democracy Sausage seems like a wonderful idea. It's great that in Australia every method possible is used to help people to cast their ballot, unlike in the United States where so many jurisdictions are placing every obstacle possible in the way of segments of their society. I have seen the results and I am wholeheartedly glad to see the back of Smirko. I hope he winds up as a janitor in a coal mine opened as a museum. That's where he needs to be.
I'm glad I've resolved the commenting problem here, David. I, too, am pleased to see the back of our previous PM. The next few years are going to be interesting I think.
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