Queensland has beaten us to it: they’re doing a trial of drive-through voting.

Yes, a state where they’re still trying to work out why bananas are bendy has trumped the drive-through’s spiritual home (that’s Wollongong).

I had a good vote recently, at a booth on Auburn St. I queued beside the Mayor, had an argument with the candidate I was voting for, stood with strangers to pencil our preferences, each of us worth only one vote. We all shared the democratic ritual, together.

Just across the road was the nation’s first drive-through ATM, and down the street was a drive-through dry cleaner. To the south Warrawong had Australia’s first drive-through McDonald’s; up north Bellambi even has a drive-through pharmacy (a proper one, not that other Bellambi pharmaceutical drive-through popular in the 90s).

We practically invented the drive-through.

But while the sight of seven pineapple farmers dropping their cane toad nets and piling onto the Falcon to get into town and vote makes me smile, the benefits of drive-through voting are dubious.

If you think it would save you from the gauntlet of people handing out flyers, think again. They’ll pull up beside you three blocks away, thrusting flyers through your window. The Greens don’t like roads so their flyers will be pushed up from their recumbent bicycles below your window, dodging the Liberal Club’s chauffeur-driven limousines, and the Labor minibus which 21 people claim as their registered address.

They’ll broadcast via bluetooth to get you through your car stereo. Mayoral candidates will try to wash your car as you pull up.

People are often at their worst in queues, and when they’re in their cars. This combines the two into a plebiscite of road ragers. Bigger Roads parties and capital punishment will get a bounce. 

And just imagine the aggro from the cars behind if you start voting “below the line”.