The democracy sausage looks set to be a victim of the coronavirus crisis at the ACT election on October 17.
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ACT Electoral commissioner Damian Cantwell said he strongly discouraged sausage sizzles for fundraising anywhere near the territory's 82 voting locations.
He said he wanted to ensure a "COVID-safe election".
The Education Directorate has told school parents and citizens groups they should not hold fundraisers near voting sites in the territory's schools.
A spokesman for the directorate said this was based on the strong advice of the ACT chief health officer.
"The chief health officer provided advice that these fundraisers should not go ahead in the election as a result of the pandemic," the spokesman said. The directorate had, accordingly, told P&Cs.
The ACT Electoral commissioner does not have the legal power to ban the fundraising ritual where the selling of sausage sandwiches and cupcakes has become an essential adjunct to the democratic process.
He has the power to ban the distribution of leaflets and canvassing material within 100m of a voting place but not to forbid other gatherings.
But he made it completely clear he did not want these traditional fundraising events to happen.
"I would not wish for any such activity to present any COVID safety risks in the vicinity if it is being proposed," he said.
"I'm taking great steps to prevent any risk of crowds forming."
The commissioner has gone to great lengths to try to ensure voting occured in a full democratic fashion despite the current epidemic.
He's tripled the number of electronic voting terminals to minimise contact with paper. There's been an extension of the hours and days available for voting when it starts on September 28.
But the democracy sausage is a casualty.
Photographs exist from the 1930s of a polling booth with a cake stall outside.
In 2016 the Australian National Dictionary Centre selected "democracy sausage" as its Australian Word of the Year for 2016.
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
