Question Time: What was my experience like as a first-time voter and election official?

7:15 am on the callsheet. It’s time to begin a 16-hour-job. Good thing I voted at the pre-poll which took me under 2 minutes. If you really think about it, democracy can be boiled down to a piece of paper, a couple of minutes of decision-making and an attempt at fitting oversized ballots down a cardboard box. 

What was incredibly concerning was the amount of people who admitted, as I gave them their ballot papers, that they had no idea who to vote for. A telling sign was when I overheard a father wearing a South Sydney Rabbitohs jersey (not the only person wearing one) tell his baby daughter, “this is your first election…. let’s kick the Liberal scums out.” 

Early updates revolved around the delectable bake sale organised by parents at the school, accumulating over $200 within 2 hours. It caught the strictly-sausage-sizzle Dads in a high-stakes battle. The bake sale was strategically placed near the entry and exit points, and basically eating its competition until lunchtime.

One inescapable observation is the high dog-to-human ratio. No cats. Zero paw-litical duty.

Most noticeable was the high number of older Australians making their way to vote. While it was not difficult to allow them to bypass the long lines, or provide them with seating arrangements, it wasn’t the most effective solution. Introducing a separate line or placing ballots closer to the main entrance of the voting centre would be more beneficial.  But another point often ignored and something I found quite prevalent amongst some older voters was their refusal of additional help. I totally get it, being singled out for help is not an easy reality to accept. Respecting their wishes was crucial for smooth crowd control, and many other voters gave up their turn in the line. 

I also want to emphasise that any person working in customer service — or in this case, voting centres — deserve the utmost respect. They should not be a conduit for your bad attitude or difficult day; aggressiveness is never useful and it creates unnecessary delays.  Searching for names and confirming details is repetitive and more tiresome than it looks. 

The only thing more exhausting than actually working the election is counting and categorising the ballots. I truly do not wish that upon anyone. By the time you do this, it’s late at night and your brain is so worn out that your basic ones, twos and threes are almost non-existent. 

It was around this point one person ordered El Jannah for themself. Democracy sausage be damned.

One thing this situation prepared me for was how important it is to number as many preferences. You do not want to have your vote be part of the ‘exhausted’ pile, especially in the Senate (large ballot): “‘Exhaustion’  occurs when a ballot paper has no valid preferences left for any of the continuing (i.e. not elected and not excluded) candidates”. They are valid votes and still counted, but for the final preference distribution, it is better “if you’ve included enough preferences to cover the last actual two groups left in the race”.

Many voters also chose to put in blank ballots, or swear or doodle. Artistic contributions included: one line striking all the names on the ballot, a dick on the cardboard box, a plainly written “Fuck all of them”, and labelling a specific candidate, “dickhead”.

One voter claimed “it’s a waste of time”, despite having shown up to vote anyways. You might as well vote properly, especially on the “telephone book” — that’s voter slang for the large ballot paper (Legislative Council).

While I have clearly picked on some situations which could have been improved, this entire experience was very rewarding and provided me with so much insight. It allowed me to bond with a group of co-workers I had never met before. Blood, sweat and tears. Ballot, sausage and turnout. 

Now, I officially consider myself robotically trained to ask about addresses and phone numbers. 

And on the grand political front, Chris Minns can now sing, “All I do is Minn, Minn, Minn no matter what.” 25 March 2023 is now the day Labor reclaimed the leadership of the NSW government after 12 years of the Coalition. With this result, all those who voted for a change also expect results from this incoming government aiming for a “fresh start”. As for being an election official, I might consider it again if I go into hibernation the day before.