The sizzling history of the democracy sausage

'Would you like sauce and onions with your snag?' It's a common enough question at a backyard barbecue and, as it turns out, also on polling day in Australia.

Enjoying a sausage, or snag, straight off the local fundraising stand's sizzling barbecue plate after casting your vote has become a beloved Australian election-day tradition.

What is a democracy sausage?

According to MoAD's Kate Armstrong, 'The term "democracy sausage" was coined around 2010 when a Snag Votes website listed and mapped the polling places in Brisbane offering a snag – or sausage – in bread with onions and tomato sauce ... In 2016, the Australian National Dictionary Centre selected "democracy sausage" as the word of the year, cementing the place of the sausage sizzle in the serious act of voting and in Australians' pride in their democracy and democratic traditions.'

What is the history of the election-day sausage sizzle?

While the term 'democracy sausage' may be relatively new, community fundraising with a homemade cake and jam stall or a sausage sizzle at a polling station during an election has been around for many years.

A picture of polling day at the (previous) Atherton Courthouse in Queensland in 1928 shows, on the right, a stand with women serving cake and refreshments, presumably to raise funds for their community.

An old fashioned car on a street outside the old Atherton Courthouse in Queensland in 1928. Banners out the front read '1 Francis'. Women sell refreshments out the front at a stall.

Polling day at the Atherton Courthouse with women running a small tea and cake stand out the front, 1928.
Photograph State Library of Queensland: 7222

The popularity of the democracy sausage is in part due to voting being compulsory in Australia. Since compulsory voting was introduced in 1924, voter turnout at polling places has been very high. Polling places are typically primary schools and community halls, and polling days are on Saturday, lending a family-friendly almost festive atmosphere to polling day as the community comes together to vote.

Naturally, this presents an ideal opportunity for local associations and parents and friends' groups to fundraise by setting up food- or refreshments-based activities around their polling place. Early on it was cakes, jams and even crafts, but with the rise in popularity of the portable gas barbecue in the '80s, this extended to the much-loved Aussie sausage sizzle. It continues to evolve to include elevated options like sourdough rolls, vegetarian sausages and more.

A girl wearing a blue hoodie with the text 'Good vibes' and a boy wearing a mustard hoodie each hold a sausage sandwich in front of an outdoor tent with a 'Democracy sausage' banner in the garden of Old Parliament House.

Kids enjoy a democracy sausage outside Old Parliament House on polling day for the 2023 Voice referendum.

Notably, turning voting into a community event featuring food and a festival-like spirit is uniquely Australian. In the UK, for instance, voting is during the work week on a Thursday and it's not compulsory to vote – it's a very different proposition to the food and fun of an Australian polling day.

Regardless of who you decide to vote for, Australians vote 1 for the democracy sausage at every election.

Compulsory voting in Australia

Compulsory voting in Australia was introduced in 1924 to increase low voter turnout, with great success. Until 1973, the voting age was 21 years or older, however in 1973 Federal Parliament passed an Act to lower the voting age to 18.

Australia is one of only a handful of countries around the world with compulsory voting. As Judith Brett writes in her book From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia Got Compulsory Voting (The Text Publishing Company, 2019), 'Voting is compulsory in 19 of the world's 166 electoral democracies but only nine [including Australia] strictly enforce it.'

Do our politicians and candidates partake in a democracy sausage?

Yes! Many politicians and candidates have been photographed or reported to have taken part in the great Australian election tradition of snagging a democracy sausage. Former Labor leader Bill Shorten famously took a bite from the middle of his democracy snag during the 2016 election rather than from either end, causing quite a stir. Similarly, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull raised a few eyebrows when he reportedly refused a sausage offered by a volunteer while visiting flood-affected Lismore in 2017.