The Echidna: If you're a 'yes' voter, here's what you can do before Saturday

I used to think of elections as The Big Day. We would all turn out, cast our ballot and wait for the results, glued to the telly.

It's not like that any more. A squillion of us have already voted and that's a bit of a buzzkill. We aren't waiting for everything, everywhere, all at once. It's weeks of campaigning and weeks of voting now. It's like Democracy Christmas spread over months - stressful and exhausting.

And we know the "no" vote looks like it's winning. But if you believe in "yes", there's one thing you can do in the remaining hours. Ring 10 people you know. Ten people whose votes matter. If you are in regional areas, where the "no" vote is strongest, call your "no" friends and explain what the Voice is.

I asked Kara Keys, from the Yes campaign, how I should approach conversations like these. She urges us all to know what we are voting for.

I've been doing Echidna for a couple of weeks now because Prime Echidna John Hanscombe is visiting other burrows - and I'm surprised and saddened about the number of "no" voters who have corresponded with me. A number say it gives Indigenous people a special advantage - but that's not my understanding at all. There are so many advisory bodies which give advice to the government - and not one for Indigenous people. We've got ones for women, ones for women who've experienced family violence, ones to give advice on hip and knee joints. We have so many advisory bodies so why wouldn't we grant one to our First Nations people.

And if you think about what they do, they just give advice all day long. We have ones on climate change, ones on immunisation, everything.

But not this.

The Voice to Parliament will give our Indigenous communities a Voice long denied them. What's happened before is that different governments have had their own arrangements and then the next government has undone it all. And then we start all over again. Let's put it in the constitution and stop all this havering.

I asked Thomas Mayo, signatory to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and author, with Kerry O'Brien of The Voice to Parliament Handbook, what he thinks is happening with the vote for the Voice.

And what he said broke my heart: "Fearmongering is designed to scare people out of yes."

And yes, I've heard the rumours myself. That suddenly Australians would be forced to pay to go to the beach. That land would be acquired. A bunch of other whacky ideas that could and would never happen because it's an advisory body that can only advise.

As Mayo says: "An advisory committee that can only decide what advice it will give."

And as he points out, a vote for the Voice will be a vote for unifying modern Australia with a proud Indigenous culture that spans 65,000 years.

A Voice will provide the advice to develop the practical means to find the solutions required to close the gap and to give consistent messages to decision-makers. We could do with that too.

"A Voice will ensure a better life for Indigenous children."

Surely that's what we all want. A better future for kids and the means to make that happen.

If you are a "yes" voter, ring your friends and have a chat. And if you are a "no" voter, please email me. Happy to talk it out.

HAVE YOUR SAY: (and don't forget that the earlier you email on the topic of the day, the more likely you are to have parts of your contribution published). Have you been able to persuade anyone to vote "yes"? How did you do it? If the referendum fails, what impact will it have on Australia.

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

- No-one could possibly have missed the horror in the Middle East - but you might have missed a warning from entrepreneur Therese Rein about what you might see on TikTok and other social platforms. In short, don't watch or share: "They are part of psychological warfare."

- More than one million Australian households will soon be battery-operated when a new renewable energy hub opens in regional Victoria.

- Where should the Australian Institute of Sport be located? Anywhere it helps athletes win. Keep it in Canberra, say both David Pocock and ASC boss Kieren Perkins.

- And please, please, keep away from snakes mating.

WHAT THEY SAID: "If we have constitutional recognition, we will have dignity." Marcia Langton on the Voice to Parliament.

WHAT YOU SAID: I asked you if we should lower the voting age at the top or bottom of the age range? So many of you wrote in and thank you, mostly the answers were respectful.

Janet says: "Definitely support bringing voting age down to 16. But I'd compromise on 17. But Sue, a former secondary teacher, says: "I would oppose lowering the voting age to 16 because, while perhaps 10-20 per cent of year 11 and 12 students may take an interest in one or two political issues, the rest have little interest in what is happening in the world around them."

Ivan cheekily suggest a senility test: "This could easily be incorporated into the ballot paper for aged pensioners. Say, a sudoku or a crossword. (just kidding)."

Terry believes "the 'yes' vote will fail because it is one generation too early. Unfortunately my age group has an underlying racial attitude and is ATM the biggest voting group."

Bradley is right on board: "I'm warming to the idea of extending the vote to 16 year olds. As an ex-primary educator, I'm proud of the young people we have coming through. They are thoughtful, caring and equipped with highly-tuned BS detectors which obviously scare old fuddy-duddies."

Gail is appalled at my idea of testing over-55s. "Have you ever considered that we have accumulated 55 years, or more, of experience and remember a time when history could not be changed to suit a social whim? When truth and fairness actually meant something? If you have said over 95, perhaps that could be acceptable, but you have really insulted a massive percentage of the population."

Deirdre has a different take on voting. "I would much prefer that Australia replace compulsory voting with optional voting."

Bernard agrees on a test! "We need a NAPLAN type test of citizens - not to disenfranchise but to establish what people know about the constitution. And before we lower the voting age, we need to permit territorians to be counted in the second vote of a referendum: when the constitution was formulated, NT was part of SA, and ACT part of NSW. We hear people say we are a democracy, but our constitution disenfranchises NT and ACT voters at a referendum. As 'Rex' Connor might say, this is not a Democracy, but a 'Demockery!'"

And Elaine is all about doing a "compulsory unit of work in year 10 before students are eligible to leave school ... we might then get a better informed voting public."

Donald writes as an old bloke: "(82 - that IS old, yes?) I was stunned by your figures re voting intention. So the young want the Voice by a large majority. Good on them! It gives me some hope but equally it makes me ashamed to be amongst an older huge negative majority. Bob said it for all of us when we were young - please get out of the new world if you can't make the change!!!"

Gotta love anyone who quotes Bob Dylan. And thanks to Helen who channels my passion for the democratic process. "Having been disenfranchised twice in council elections [long story] I will never willingly give up my right to vote."