Donald Trump Wasn’t Running in Queensland, but Queensland Voted for Him Anyway

Apparently dissatisfied with the choices on offer, more than three percent of voters in the Queensland local government elections recorded informal votes over the weekend. The ABC reports that popular substitute candidates included Donald Trump, Jimi Hendrix, and NRL player Johnathan Thurston.

The assistant electoral commissioner of Queensland, Dermot Tiernan, told the ABC that the number of informal votes was above average. "Some people get artistic on the day, and it was a hot day. People get up and they don't want to do it generally," he told 612 ABC Brisbane.

One dissatisfied voter wrote an essay about Centrelink on their ballot paper, whereas others created elaborate artworks by joining all of the dots on the page together in order to render it invalid

Unlike in some states, voting in Queensland's local government elections is compulsory for all electors enrolled for federal and state elections.

Although polls had indicated a tight race, the incumbent Liberal National Party candidate Graham Quirk has won another term as Brisbane's mayor with a massive majority against the Labor party, led by Rod Harding.

Votes are still being finalised, but the Greens are looking likely to win their first city council seat in the ward of The Gabba. Popular candidate Jonathan Sri is a performance poet and musician.

Queenslanders also voted on a referendum for fixed four-year parliamentary terms that looks likely to succeed. Informal votes were high for this as well—a representative of the Queensland Electoral Commission told VICE that they're currently running at 3.38 percent.

Hopefully Australian voters get into the spirit of democratic participation soon, especially given the increasing likelihood of a double dissolution election on July 2.

Follow Kat on Twitter.