Voting for the Senate may require magnifying glasses

from w
This is like an April 1 joke but it seems the writer of this article in the Herald Sun newspaper is serious. It's gonna take some time if you want to number all of them!

Senate circus list blows out ballot

VOTERS will be given 40,000 magnifying glasses to help them read a record metre-long ballot paper for the Senate.

An explosion of candidate numbers - as many as 57 parties, plus independents, are to stand in Victoria for the federal Upper House - has forced a lengthening of the already large ballot paper and a shrinking of the type size.

Among a proliferation of parties are the Pirate Party Australia, the Help End Marijuana Prohibition Party and the Bullet Train for Australia Party.

They could soon be joined by the Coke In The Bubblers Party, which is pushing to be registered for the federal election that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd must call before the end of November.

The 1.02-metre ballot paper is the maximum length at which printers can produce it, but there are expected to be so many candidates the Australian Electoral Commission has ordered 40,000 magnifying glasses for polling booths nationwide to help voters read the fine print.

The AEC said 10,000 devices would be used in Victoria.

Since the 2010 election, the number of registered parties has exploded from 25 to 46, with another 11 applications before the AEC.

AEC Victorian state manager Steve Kennedy said the growth in parties was unprecedented. "This is likely to be the longest ballot paper in Victorian history," he said. etc etc