As millions of Australians cast their ballots in the Voice to Parliament referendum today, many have observed the lack of No Campaign pamphleteers across the country.
There are three great traditions that every Aussie partakes in during an electoral event:
- Waiting for yonks in line because we didn’t get there early enough.
- Smashing down a democracy snag.
- Being bombarded with ‘How To Vote’ pamphlets from every campaign side before you even get given a pencil.
Though the first two traditions have been kept sacred, during this referendum people around the nation are wondering where the No Campaigners have gone.
Voters have taken to X (formerly Twitter) to express their confusion at how the No Campaign, who appeared to have a much bigger following according to the Newspolls, are absent from this crucial element of the campaign.
Kos Samaras, a key Victorian Labor strategist, took to the platform to express his confusion at how the No Campaign could miss this pivotal part of the referendum, stating that they have “arrogantly abandoned” the polling stations.
Absence of No volunteers at polling places is stark. This was not a thing back in 1999. Presence at a polling places matters more than a general election. Yes volunteers will be converting undecided voters all day on places where No have arrogantly abandoned.
— Kos Samaras (@KosSamaras) October 13, 2023
This sentiment was reciprocated in further comments from other pundits who observed the ‘No’ no-show.
“All across Kooyong, only one No volunteer per booth while Yes has a minimum of 7-8 at even the small booths,” posted political scientist Dr Ann Capling. The seat of Kooyong is represented by teal MP Monique Ryan, which Samaras says should be expected to have a favour toward the ‘Yes’ vote.
Similar comments have been made from people in other areas which are typically progressive and could expect a ‘Yes’ majority, like in Leichhardt, Redfern, and Balmain across Sydney.
One voter online stated that they visited five different polling stations around Victoria and failed to find any ‘No’ pamphleteers in Fawkner, Glenroy, Pascoe Vale, and Coburg North.
I visited 5 polling booths in Fawkner, Glenroy, Pascoe Vale and Coburg North. YES campaigners on the ground at every one, complete absence of NO campaigners.
— John Englart EAM 🌏 on Mastodon as @takvera@c.im (@takvera) October 14, 2023
Yes campaign grassroots driven,
No campaign top down and social media driven. #Yes23 #Auspol #JustSayin
In the polling booths, the lack of presence of the No Campaign volunteers has been attributed to the fact that the ‘Yes’ vote has found that more people want to volunteer for creating a change than to keep the status quo.
The ABC have even reported on the No Campaign’s failure to show up on the day resulting in a failure to convert any last-minute undecided voters.
ABC reporter Xanthe Gregory reports that in Balmain Sydney, there’s “no ‘vote No’ posters” & “no ‘vote No’ campaigners”
— stranger (@strangerous10) October 14, 2023
“Here in Balmain I haven’t been able to find anyone who is voting No”
Says Randwick is about “50/50” #ABC #VoteYes pic.twitter.com/NM48HmKKLO
A voter in Orange Grove reported that they did see a single ‘No’ volunteer show up to their polling booth, drop off a box of hats and pamphlets, and leave.
Despite the uneven ratio of volunteers, many pundits have observed a majority people aren’t taking the ‘how to vote’ cards from either camp.
The final Newspoll released before the referendum showed a swing upward for the ‘Yes’ vote, up by three points to 37 per cent, while the ‘No’ vote still dominated with 57 per cent.
The remaining six per cent of undecided voters are who these volunteers aim to target, and so presumably the No Campaign are confident in its numbers as Samaras suggested.
Guess we’ll find out if its confidence pays off tonight when the votes get counted.
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