When I arrived at 7am on my first polling day at the 2016 federal election, I wasn’t sure what to expect. My assigned polling place was the tiny public school in Fernleigh – population 300 – near Bangalow in northern New South Wales. When we opened the doors at 8.30am, I put on my shapeless purple vest, sat at one of two tables with my printed electoral roll, pen and ruler, and experienced a quiet, nerdy revelation: there was so much more to this job than issuing ballot papers.
Early voting wasn’t really a thing back then so civic duty flushed all eligible adults out of the hills and into Fernleigh on election day. I loved seeing farmers in worn jumpers and gumboots who looked as though they’d driven their tractors to the polling place. Women in cashmere cardigans, parents cradling cups of coffee and squirming toddlers. When I stepped out of the school hall for my first break, I was offered fresh scones and home-baked biscuits at a fundraising stall set up by a few locals.
