Democracy Sausages

Voting in Australia contrasts in many ways to voting in the US: it's compulsory (enforced by a fine of up to AU$120), we use ranked choice voting and proportional representation, there's no voting for the Prime Minister like there is for the President here, and we vote on a Saturday instead of a Tuesday. But the most iconic difference is that at nearly every polling station, you'll find locals having a chinwag while partaking in their democracy sausage – a well-cooked snag served humbly on a roll or folded piece of bread, covered in grilled onions and your choice of barbecue sauce, mustard, and/or tomato sauce (substantially different to ketchup), purchased from local schools or soccer clubs raising funds for the kids. Democracy sausages have become so prevalent that they were declared Australia's word of the year in 2016, and for every election democracysausage.org creates maps of the sausage sizzle stalls from "crowdsauced" data.

Even if voting was not compulsory in Australia, I would still vote. In our model of determining whether it's rational for me to vote, pB + D - C ≥ 0, I am well aware that the probability p is at least 1 in 23 million (i.e. basically 0), and that the cost C of getting out to a polling place and standing in line on a Saturday when I'd rather be at the beach isn't insignificant. But for me, the D in the model stands for Democracy sausage, and the utility I derive from it is great enough that it outweighs the costs, thus my choosing to vote would be rational behavior. This choice calculus has become particularly clear to me as Australia prepares to hold a referendum next weekend in which I can declare my absence without penalty. I could have applied for a postal vote, but I decided that the increased cost due to filling out forms and mailing my ballot wasn't worth it without any democracy sausage.