Brisbane, Australia (CNN) The night before the Western Australian state election in 2013, a group of friends sat around discussing how they would vote. Fund-raising was an unintended consequence of compulsory voting, a policy introduced in 1924 after World War I. We've had people saying things like because of compulsory voting it's the sensible center that decides elections rather than the fringes," she says. For the data enthusiasts at Democracy Sausage, this weekend's election will leave behind a lot more than dirty barbecues and empty sauce bottles. "I guess what we really enjoy is hearing back from the polling booths and the community groups after the elections," Seats says.

Source: CNN May 17, 2019 23:26 UTC