Voted at the super crowded West End station. No ID required. ALP & Greens outnumbered LNP like the French at Agincourt. But we all know what happened to them.
I've been at pre-poll in WA for the last week and a bit, and can reassure you that no ID is required. I've also voted early, and the process was just like election day except no democracy sausage. At least I can get one on election day when I'm handing out how to vote cards 😬
Be prepared to wait in a queue though; the numbers going through pre-poll are INSANE. I'm volunteering at a pre-poll booth that services 4 electorates, Curtin, Cowan, Perth and Moore, and the lovely AEC people have been reporting 2000k plus numbers all week. Which is medium sized booth on election day sorts of numbers according to my campaign manager. Unprecedented. Saturday was a short day, 7 hours rather than 9 hours, and it almost beat the record set the day before (Thursday, because Friday was closed for ANZAC Day). It would have, if it had been open for the same period.
Yesterday the booth processed 2600 voters; today was 2700. The lovely AEC supervisor in charge expects to crack 3000 on Thursday or Friday. He says that the demand they're experiencing is 3 times what they had forecast. Apparently they went through their entire 9 day allocation of pre-poll ballots in the first 5 days and had to order more in (we've not run out, they've managed their stock very well).
And turning up early won't save you; people have been queuing from before the pre-poll centre opens at 8:30am. The party and independent volunteers were joking today that at the rate this is going there won't be anyone left to vote on Saturday. According to the experts high numbers of pre-polling votes indicates bad news for the blunder-spud.
I can report that the mood is very much get it out of the way; the pseudo election campaign that started in January has not endeared either of the two majors to the electorate now that it's May and we're finally going to the polls. And the mood seems very "anyone but Labor, but DEFINITELY not the Libs." If I was forced to pick a winner based on my entirely unscientific anecdotal observations, I would say that Labor will definitely be returned, and possibly even in majority.
My favourite part of pre-poll has been watching people hand back Liberal HTVs once they realise which party it is, and my favourite pre-poll encounter was the lady who recoiled from a Liberal volunteer like he was radioactive and went "Oh NO... you're into nuclear!" He was astonished, and it gave me an opportunity to sidle in and inform her the Democrats helped negotiate the federal nuclear ban in the 1990s, which she was DELIGHTED to discover, and promptly took my HTV. It's the little things 🤣
Hoping for a Prince of Orange endorsement of the spud - did wonders for Poilievre. He's already the only American President to have lost a Canadian election - hope he doubles down and scores a lost Australian election too. That said, I've seen no sign that mad mango is even aware of the spud - got to hope someone tells him about it in the next few days.
I will be voting on the day, and may partake in a democracy sausage crawl should conditions be right. Last time was complete shite, but on the occasion prior, I managed five and I couldn't even vote then.
Mrs W will be away with mates this weekend. So I'm hoping that Little Miss 4y.o. will help out with the tomahawk steak and will enjoy a solid dose of ABC election coverage.
I did my first ever postal vote this time, as I'm in too much pain to stand in line for an extended period (although it sounds like that may not be an issue on the day).
I was surprised to find I needed a witness - seems a bit pointless.
Posted it yesterday arvo and just got an email notification it had been received, which strikes me as suspiciously efficient for AusPost.
They're probably prioritising postal votes and sending them through to a central repository.
Also, if you're unable to stand in line the nice AEC people will let you jump the queue; we've been pulling people in wheelchairs, walkers, canes etc out of line and sending them through to be fastracked because it's unfair to make some poor 80 year with a walker wait in line for 30 mins to vote. The AEC supervisor was wheeling a nice old lady in a wheelchair in and made sure she visited every volunteer to get a how to vote card before he took her inside. BLESS.
This was me today. It was a walking stick and pale face day and a lovely ARC person convinced me that it was perfectly ok to skip the queue. I felt bad for the long line of people patiently waiting... but I was going down hill fast.
As to watching the election... probably not this time. Last election I ended up in hospital with a broken elbow because wine, walking backwards, floor rugs, and political pontificating are not a good mix! I think a lovely rerun of Galaxy Quest is in order. Much safer!
I like many have already voted. Didn't even ask me for a reason why I needed to vote early, which they did ask at the 2022 election. According to Australia's Anthony Green "As of Saturday 26 April, one week before polling day, a total of 2,397,351 had been taken representing 13.2% of enrolment.
The same percentages to one week before poling day were 13.4% in 2019 and 11.5% in 2022".
I voted this morning, no official documentation required. Surname asked for, then requested my Christian name and address to check I was who I said I was.
i'm rolling up old skool on the day. Dont lynch me for this, but i have never eaten a sausage at one of these things yet (and i'm not even vegetarian). I will have old uni friends visiting on the day/night as well, so hoping to avoid any screen time/doom scrolling.
No watching/scrolling on the night but I do hope to watch the highlights reel next day of various LNP numpties of when they conceeded, fingers crossed.
As much as it's convenient to vote early via a postal vote, I actually enjoy the whole spectacle and brouhaha that is the process of voting in person.
First off there's running the fear and loathing that is the gauntlet of getting past those cultists who have their crazed hopeful rictus grins plastered over their uncanny valley faces, waving their "how to vote" sheets at you. The pleading in their hollow dead eyes takes true fortitude to stare down and dismiss.
Then there's the que itself, standing alongside your fellow mug punters... ahem... citizens, listening discretely to their gripes and moans about having to sacrifice 30 minutes of their incredibly precious day to ensure they have the right to continue to whinge without fear.
Then we get into the actual polling venue where rows of AEC drones tiredly ask the same question ad nauseum to multiple people, ticking off your name from the imposing Scrolls of Fate.
And then you shuffle your way to the musty, flimsy cardboard voting booth, picking up a pen or pencil that invariably doesn't work properly, to begin to exercise your national franchise right by numbering a series of boxes. I always start with who is going last then work my way backwards as a process of going from most shit to meh ... they're good enough I suppose 😌
But it's that blessed moment, once you've deposited the ballots in an overflowing box crammed with hundreds of other ballots, do you step out of the venue to be treated with the heavenly aroma of The Democracy Sausages! 🤤🌭
Once I purchase one, usually from the local P&C volunteers, and take a bite of what can only be described as mystery meat consisting of hitherto unknown parts of some animal (we hope)... I feel the Power of Democracy begin to surge within my soul.
The ritual is complete.
I may partake of other baked goodies that are for sale as it's all for a good cause, right?
But still, it shall be three more years until the show starts again.
I shall be thinking of you JB, as the sacred grease and sauce stain my lips this Saturday morning while you lounge around with a design of architects.
Voted at the super crowded West End station. No ID required. ALP & Greens outnumbered LNP like the French at Agincourt. But we all know what happened to them.
I've been at pre-poll in WA for the last week and a bit, and can reassure you that no ID is required. I've also voted early, and the process was just like election day except no democracy sausage. At least I can get one on election day when I'm handing out how to vote cards 😬
Be prepared to wait in a queue though; the numbers going through pre-poll are INSANE. I'm volunteering at a pre-poll booth that services 4 electorates, Curtin, Cowan, Perth and Moore, and the lovely AEC people have been reporting 2000k plus numbers all week. Which is medium sized booth on election day sorts of numbers according to my campaign manager. Unprecedented. Saturday was a short day, 7 hours rather than 9 hours, and it almost beat the record set the day before (Thursday, because Friday was closed for ANZAC Day). It would have, if it had been open for the same period.
Yesterday the booth processed 2600 voters; today was 2700. The lovely AEC supervisor in charge expects to crack 3000 on Thursday or Friday. He says that the demand they're experiencing is 3 times what they had forecast. Apparently they went through their entire 9 day allocation of pre-poll ballots in the first 5 days and had to order more in (we've not run out, they've managed their stock very well).
And turning up early won't save you; people have been queuing from before the pre-poll centre opens at 8:30am. The party and independent volunteers were joking today that at the rate this is going there won't be anyone left to vote on Saturday. According to the experts high numbers of pre-polling votes indicates bad news for the blunder-spud.
I can report that the mood is very much get it out of the way; the pseudo election campaign that started in January has not endeared either of the two majors to the electorate now that it's May and we're finally going to the polls. And the mood seems very "anyone but Labor, but DEFINITELY not the Libs." If I was forced to pick a winner based on my entirely unscientific anecdotal observations, I would say that Labor will definitely be returned, and possibly even in majority.
My favourite part of pre-poll has been watching people hand back Liberal HTVs once they realise which party it is, and my favourite pre-poll encounter was the lady who recoiled from a Liberal volunteer like he was radioactive and went "Oh NO... you're into nuclear!" He was astonished, and it gave me an opportunity to sidle in and inform her the Democrats helped negotiate the federal nuclear ban in the 1990s, which she was DELIGHTED to discover, and promptly took my HTV. It's the little things 🤣
Update; today the booth I'm on processed almost 3400 people 😮
Hoping for a Prince of Orange endorsement of the spud - did wonders for Poilievre. He's already the only American President to have lost a Canadian election - hope he doubles down and scores a lost Australian election too. That said, I've seen no sign that mad mango is even aware of the spud - got to hope someone tells him about it in the next few days.
I will be voting on the day, and may partake in a democracy sausage crawl should conditions be right. Last time was complete shite, but on the occasion prior, I managed five and I couldn't even vote then.
Did an early vote in WA, no id needed there.
Didn't put Spud last.
That was One Notion.
Then it was Spud.
Mrs W will be away with mates this weekend. So I'm hoping that Little Miss 4y.o. will help out with the tomahawk steak and will enjoy a solid dose of ABC election coverage.
I did my first ever postal vote this time, as I'm in too much pain to stand in line for an extended period (although it sounds like that may not be an issue on the day).
I was surprised to find I needed a witness - seems a bit pointless.
Posted it yesterday arvo and just got an email notification it had been received, which strikes me as suspiciously efficient for AusPost.
They're probably prioritising postal votes and sending them through to a central repository.
Also, if you're unable to stand in line the nice AEC people will let you jump the queue; we've been pulling people in wheelchairs, walkers, canes etc out of line and sending them through to be fastracked because it's unfair to make some poor 80 year with a walker wait in line for 30 mins to vote. The AEC supervisor was wheeling a nice old lady in a wheelchair in and made sure she visited every volunteer to get a how to vote card before he took her inside. BLESS.
This was me today. It was a walking stick and pale face day and a lovely ARC person convinced me that it was perfectly ok to skip the queue. I felt bad for the long line of people patiently waiting... but I was going down hill fast.
As to watching the election... probably not this time. Last election I ended up in hospital with a broken elbow because wine, walking backwards, floor rugs, and political pontificating are not a good mix! I think a lovely rerun of Galaxy Quest is in order. Much safer!
I like many have already voted. Didn't even ask me for a reason why I needed to vote early, which they did ask at the 2022 election. According to Australia's Anthony Green "As of Saturday 26 April, one week before polling day, a total of 2,397,351 had been taken representing 13.2% of enrolment.
The same percentages to one week before poling day were 13.4% in 2019 and 11.5% in 2022".
I voted this morning, no official documentation required. Surname asked for, then requested my Christian name and address to check I was who I said I was.
i'm rolling up old skool on the day. Dont lynch me for this, but i have never eaten a sausage at one of these things yet (and i'm not even vegetarian). I will have old uni friends visiting on the day/night as well, so hoping to avoid any screen time/doom scrolling.
No watching/scrolling on the night but I do hope to watch the highlights reel next day of various LNP numpties of when they conceeded, fingers crossed.
I feel like we need to get onto some TikTokky teens to put a greatest hits edit together 🤔
As much as it's convenient to vote early via a postal vote, I actually enjoy the whole spectacle and brouhaha that is the process of voting in person.
First off there's running the fear and loathing that is the gauntlet of getting past those cultists who have their crazed hopeful rictus grins plastered over their uncanny valley faces, waving their "how to vote" sheets at you. The pleading in their hollow dead eyes takes true fortitude to stare down and dismiss.
Then there's the que itself, standing alongside your fellow mug punters... ahem... citizens, listening discretely to their gripes and moans about having to sacrifice 30 minutes of their incredibly precious day to ensure they have the right to continue to whinge without fear.
Then we get into the actual polling venue where rows of AEC drones tiredly ask the same question ad nauseum to multiple people, ticking off your name from the imposing Scrolls of Fate.
And then you shuffle your way to the musty, flimsy cardboard voting booth, picking up a pen or pencil that invariably doesn't work properly, to begin to exercise your national franchise right by numbering a series of boxes. I always start with who is going last then work my way backwards as a process of going from most shit to meh ... they're good enough I suppose 😌
But it's that blessed moment, once you've deposited the ballots in an overflowing box crammed with hundreds of other ballots, do you step out of the venue to be treated with the heavenly aroma of The Democracy Sausages! 🤤🌭
Once I purchase one, usually from the local P&C volunteers, and take a bite of what can only be described as mystery meat consisting of hitherto unknown parts of some animal (we hope)... I feel the Power of Democracy begin to surge within my soul.
The ritual is complete.
I may partake of other baked goodies that are for sale as it's all for a good cause, right?
But still, it shall be three more years until the show starts again.
I shall be thinking of you JB, as the sacred grease and sauce stain my lips this Saturday morning while you lounge around with a design of architects.
As a rictus grinned cultist how dare you so accurately describe me and my fellow campaign volunteers 😅
I wish postal voting was just generally allowed instead of needing a reason. I'd never vote in person again.
This has got to make it to a column surely?
https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/offbeat/scott-marsh-aussie-street-artist-unveils-controversial-peter-dutton-sex-toy-mural-the-dutt-plug--c-18533640