"Democracy sausage" is the
colloquial
Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom normally employed in conver ...
name for a
sausage
A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders.
...
wrapped in a slice of bread, bought from a
sausage sizzle
A sausage sizzle (also referred to as 'sausage in bread' or a sausage sandwich) is a grilled or barbecued food item and community event held in Australia and New Zealand.
A sausage (most commonly beef or pork) is served in sliced bread or a ...
operated as a
fundraiser
Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...
at Australian polling places on election day, often in aid of the institutions that house the polling place. In 2016, the BBC reported that just under one-third of the 1,992 polling booths across Australia had a sausage stand by the count of the ''Election Sausage Sizzles'' website.
CNN quoted historian Judith Brett, author of ''From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia Got Compulsory Voting'' as saying "Certainly, there's a photo in the 1930s of a polling booth with a cake stall outside, so I think community organizations saw it was an opportunity to fund-raise."
Brett is further quoted as saying that sausages started appearing in the early 1980s when portable barbecue grills became available.
The first use of the phrase "democracy sausage" on social media was in the lead-up to the 2013 Western Australian state election, but the phrase was probably in spoken use before then.
The democracy sausage has become so well recognised in Australian culture, that in the 24 hours leading up to the 2016 Australian federal election, 2 July 2016 federal election Twitter changed its emoji for #ausvotes from a ballot box to a sausage lying on a slice of white bread topped with sauce.
In December 2016 the Australian National Dictionary Centre selected "democracy sausage" as its Australian Word of the Year for 2016.
As Australians always vote on a Saturday and Compulsory voting, voting is compulsory, there is always high voter turnout for both state and federal elections.
Many polling places are located at schools, community halls and churches,
with these groups often taking advantage of the large number of people coming to their location by setting up fundraising stalls.
For many community groups this is the biggest fundraising event of the year.
Variations on the standard
sausage
A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders.
...
in bread are also available at some election day stalls. Voters can also purchase vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free alternatives as well as other food items, including cakes and drinks.
Various websites and social media accounts have been set up to help the public locate which polling booths have stalls and what will be available at them, so that they can choose a polling location according to their food choices.
At the 2016 Australian federal election, 2 July 2016 federal election, one such site recorded 2301 polling booths as having sausages and/or cakes available, and another recorded 2094,
each of which is over one-third of the total number.
Some cake stalls sell themed sweets which are named as a play on politicians' names such as Alba-Cheesy Cakes (Anthony Albanese), Malcolm Turnovers, Malcolm Turnballs (Malcolm Turnbull), Plebislice (referring to a plebiscite), Jacqui Lambingtons (Jacqui Lambie), Tanya Plibiscuits (Tanya Plibersek), and Richard Di Nutella Fudge (Richard Di Natale).
See also
*Politics of Australia
References
External links
ElectionSausageSizzle.com.auDemocracySausage.org* {{FaceBook , id=AusDemocracySausage , name=Democracy Sausage
Elections in Australia
Australian cuisine
Fundraising events
Sausage dishes
Australian sausages
Australian sandwiches
Cuisine of the Australian Capital Territory