Democracy Sausage, Voting In Swimsuits: Bizarre Polling Trends In Australia

NDTV

03-05-2025

Quick Take
Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed.
The "democracy sausage," a grilled sausage in bread, symbolises Australian election culture, served at polling places nationwide and abroad. It reflects humility in politics and has become part of folklore and tradition, like voting in swimwear.
A democracy sausage is a cultural tradition as Australian as koalas, vegemite and TimTams. It's a simple grilled sausage wrapped in a slice of white bread and topped with onions and ketchup, however, when the same is offered at polling places on election day, it becomes a 'democracy sausage' that has become a national symbol for participating in elections, and is served everywhere Australians vote.
Not just in Australia, but these democracy sausages are also served at polling places for citizens abroad at Australian embassies in New York, Riyadh, Nairobi and Tokyo, and even at a research station in Antarctica. There is a website that also tracks in real-time crowd-sourced democracy sausage locations on polling day: "It's practically part of the Australian Constitution."
The spokesperson of the website democracysausage.org, added, "We've heard reports of people who are tourists over here, foreign students, that will go along to election days just to get the sausages. I think that's a great piece of Australian culture for people to take home with them."
The sausage is also a way for aspiring leaders to show that they are humble enough to eat a cheap piece of meat wrapped in bread, and photographs of politicians eating these democracy sausages have become memes, and generally a part of Australian political folklore.
The Australian National Dictionary Centre also named "democracy sausage" as its word of the year.
Moreover, the Australian constitution does not mention anything about a dress code for voting, and it has become a tradition to vote in swimwear. This started when the maker of "Budgie Smuggler" was giving out free swimming trunks to the first 200 people who voted in smugglers.
"It's a little bit revealing and may be confronting for some of your viewers. But a lot people here come out of the water and come and vote. I think it's a nice statement of Australian democracy", Nick Fabbri, a voter in the Bondi area of Sydney, told Reuters.
Voting in Australia for the national election began on Saturday. Per polls, voter appetite for change has been dampened by US tariffs, and hence the elections might favour Labour Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over conservative challenger Peter Dutton.