IT’S juvenile, but there’s no denying people love doodling penises on their ballot papers.

And while it’s immature, it’s been happening for years so maybe these d*** pics should be taken more seriously because they may be sending a message to our politicians.

Senior lecturer at the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Dr Lauren Rosewarne, said we could be making a bit of a political statement with our doodles.

Those who draw them, and Dr Rosewarne predicts it’s mostly men, fall into two categories.

“People are simply having a joke and are thinking it’s funny and a bit subversive,” she said.

“Usually it’s people who are not particularly interested in politics and feel they are forced to vote so have a bit of fun with it.”

The other category of people who draw penises on their ballot papers however, are saying a little “f**k you” to the government, according to Dr Rosewarne.

“Penises are like a flipped finger, there’s an aggressive element to it,” she said.

“It’s the perception that nobody is worth voting for.”

Dr Rosewarne said it was no secret young people were disengaged this election, and there was no shortage of penis drawings either.

In fact, Dr Rosewarne heard one polling booth received a 40cm-long penis, which was rather detailed.

“Who is spending that much time at the polling booth," she said.

While drawing a penis on your ballot paper is a small statement, with only you and the vote counter enjoying the artwork, people are still getting some sort of satisfaction out of it.

“Voting is a small thing you need to do for democracy and the same people who resent it do like the fact we have a democracy and do get a bit of a say, even if it is by drawing a c***,” Dr Rosewarne said.

And we wonder why people draw penises on ballot forms. Because people are disenchanted with politics. The UK and Aus example shows us this. — TheElusiveKate (@elusive_kate) July 4, 2016

People are taking their vote less seriously and doodling penises because of laziness.

“The fact that you’re told on a Saturday to go and spend time lining up at your local primary school, some people don’t like that concept,” Dr Rosewarne said.

If you think by drawing a penis you are not voting, you’re actually wrong.

If you number boxes correctly and draw a penis, your vote will be counted.

Dr Rosewarne said those who didn’t vote and simply drew a penis, were also subconsciously voting.

“If you go to a polling booth and don’t vote and draw a c***, you’ve voted for things to stay the way they are,” she said.

“You’re saying things should stay the same and you’re not voting for change.

“That’s OK, but please don’t sit back and complain if we have a Liberal government and don’t sit there and complain about the government you didn’t vote for.”

Dr Rosewarne figured it was mostly men drawing penises and she was surprised it’s still used as an offensive symbol.

“Why are d*** pics still going?” she said.

“What happened to our culture, why are penises used as a tool to cause offence or mockery?

“Why is it the penis, why is there no other object that works the same way?”

With a record number of penises drawn on ballot papers, no wonder we're facing a potential HUNG parliament #ausvotes2016 #auspol — Angus Hoy (@GusHoy) July 3, 2016

Dr Rosewarne said women weren’t as fascinated with drawing penises as men were.

“Women don’t find anything particularly scandalous or aggressive about them. There’s no shock value,” she said.

“Some men are still finding appeal in that adolescent display. There are school boys drawing penises on blackboards but adults who are given the right to have a say in our democracy are doing this really adolescent behaviour also.”

Dr Rosewarne said young people didn’t feel their voices were being heard by the politicians representing them.

“I don’t think either of the politicians are doing much to court the youth vote,” she said.

“The Greens are making mileage with that but most people who access political news would be talking about Turnbull and Shorten rather than talking about candidates from the Sex Party, that would likely interest young people more.”