It's the moment we've all been waiting for (well, maybe). The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released what the same-sex marriage survey form, and the envelope it arrives in, will look like.
This is what the form you have to fill out will look like:
It's got one question — "Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?" — and two boxes labelled "yes" and "no".
On the form, it's got some instructions for filling out the survey. Let's unpack these a little...
You have to use a dark pen and mark only one box. The word "mark" is fairly ambiguous, but safe to say a regular tick or cross should do the trick.
In the next line, it notes that nothing but the survey form should be placed in the envelope. There was initially a lot of chat about whether you could put glitter into your envelopes — but if you want your vote to be counted, DO NOT DO THIS. It could screw up the machines and mean your survey response isn't counted.
If you mark BOTH boxes, your vote might be marked invalid (so don't, for example, put a tick in the box of your preferred answer, and a cross in the other).
It also warns people to not remove or alter the barcode attached to the form. Each form will have a unique barcode which the ABS is using to keep track of the forms.
And this is the envelope it will arrive in.
Keep an eye out — the surveys will be posted out from Tuesday September 12.
If you're overseas, live in a remote area, or for some other reason are getting a trusted person to fill out your survey for you, send them a picture of this envelope and let them know it's what to look out for.
Happy survey-responding!