ABS sheds light on glitter question

The Australian Bureau of Statistics says it can handle same-sex marriage forms decorated with glitter, but is not encouraging it.

Same-sex marriage survey forms decorated with glitter won't be actively encouraged, but could still be processed, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.

ABS deputy statistician Jonathan Palmer, who is in charge of the $122 million poll, told a Senate inquiry on Thursday he would be instructing Australians to use a dark pen or pencil and not include any "extraneous material" in the return envelopes.

"I think glitter is particularly problematic because these forms have to go through a scanning machine and I'm pretty sure they are not robust to lots of glitter," he said.

"We will do our best to process every survey form that can be processed but glitter will not help."

Asked what would happen to a glitter-decorated form, he said: "They would subject to some special process, so the forms might be either cleaned or transcribed but we won't be pumping them through scanners and have them clog up."

An online campaign is encouraging voters to tick "yes" and include glitter in the envelope.