How do you vote in your country?

[Ayiramala]

Hi everyone,

Just out of curiosity, I would like to know which system you use for voting in your country. Here in India, we go to the polling station (there would be three or four in every town or village), stand in a long queue and cast our vote after identifying ourselves with an ID card. until a few years ago we used ballot papers - where we affix a seal against the name of the candidate on this ballot paper, and drop it in a box. But more recently, we have shifted to electronic voting machines - where we just press the button against our candidate. But we still have to stand in this queue. How do you do it there? Is election done on any one day, or over a period of many days?
Thanks for all your responses.

[UTR]

Here in the USA most people go to the voting station for their area on the day of the election. This location is the same for all elections held for government officials. We can also vote by absentee ballot for a period of time before the election if a person is unable to make it to the polls on election day. The time allowed varies state by state or city by city. There are a few places that allow voting via the Internet. There might be a few more options but they are very rare in practice.

[Xercus]

The method in Norway would be pretty much like the U.S. The timeframe for absentee votes is fixed (three or four weeks). So far there has only been a limited test for internet absentee voting, but I can imagine that this is how it all will be done, even the election in the not too distant future.
Being a Kingdom we do not elect a president though, but rather a party or constellation of parties with their prime minister candidate.

[DrageMester]

In Denmark you can send in absentee votes, but I’ve never tried it myself.

Normal voting consists of getting an “election card” in the mail a week or so before the election, which you must bring with you as documentation to a specific voting station in your vicinity on voting day. Usually such voting stations are at public schools or sometimes at sports halls.

At the voting station you deliver the voting card and get a ballot paper containing a list of political parties and candidates; for local elections you get one for municipal ("[I]kommune[/I]") and another one for regional elections. You can vote for a party or for a candidate.

Then you step into a voting booth to secretly fill out your ballot(s) with a pencil, and then you step out and put the folded ballot(s) through a slot into locked containers.

…then sometime late in the evening or the next day you get to be disappointed about the clowns who actually got elected to mess things up for the next 4 years or so.

[Ayiramala]

Thanks. The real reason why I asked this question is this: I am a school teacher. In an election school teachers and bank employees are the first to get election duties - we are the ones who should conduct it. So the day before the election we go to this collection center to collect the polling materials. We then go to our polling station which will always be a school in that area, to set the polling station up. The law requires that we stay in that polling station that night. So we try to pass the night lying on a couple of benches, or on the floor. Then the next day after the election, we pack everything and go back to the place from where we received them the previous day. After handing everything over, we go back home

Actually there is a lot of pressure involved. There will be a lot of paperwork to do - forms to fill out, sign, covers to seal, etc. When we go back to return these items there will always be a heavy rush at the counters so that it will be nine or ten o’clock at night that we leave the place, pretty much exhausted.

But the most important reason why we dread election duty is that it won’t always run very smooth. Because it is all about politics. Violence and instances of someone trying to cast somebody else’s vote are not very rare.

So I was curious to know if anyone uses an internet voting system.

[DrageMester]

The problem with internet voting systems is, that it would be difficult or impossible to maintain voting secrecy and integrity - i.e. avoid other people buying votes or bullying voters to vote in a particular way.

This is also a potential problem with absentee voting by mail.

If your country believes secrecy and integrity to be essential, they may choose to avoid internet voting all together.

[Millennium12]

That’s why we in Australia still vote by paper - electronic voting can be manipulates in every way very easily. It’s just not secure!

I believe some US states have reverted to paper as well

[Mr_Belvedere]

In mother Russia we do not vote! We are told by Putin what to conquer and who to kill!
In North Korea we do not vote! We live to make glorious leader Kim happy! If he is not happy, we die.

Anyhoo… in my country of wooden shoes, windmills and lots of pot they used to use electronic voting systems (not connected to the internet though), until a few freedom fighters found out it’s relatively easy to manipulate these systems. Yet still the manufacture would not disclose the source code and blueprint of the system for an audit. That did not earn them any XP.

So, we’re back to huge A0 forms and a red pencil.

[UTR]

Not to hijack the thread, but how many people have to show a photo identification in order to vote? Here in the USA there is a push by some to not require any form of identification. Personally, I believe this is a bad idea considering the importance of the function and the strong need to keep fraud out of elections.

[Xercus]

[QUOTE=UTR;2779245]Not to hijack the thread, but how many people have to show a photo identification in order to vote? Here in the USA there is a push by some to not require any form of identification. Personally, I believe this is a bad idea considering the importance of the function and the strong need to keep fraud out of elections.[/QUOTE]

Norway for one, we have to positively identify ourselves by drivers license, bank card or passport (all with picture)

[Ayiramala]

Here in India it is mandatory that you bring a photo ID with you. The Election Commission itself issues a certain ID card. Either that, or a bank card, passport, driver’s license, etc. Sometimes the pictures in these IDs will be very old, and they will have no bearing on the actual appearance of the person. So identifying them will not be that easy.

[philamber]

No need for ID in Australia. Although you can vote by post, normally you just go to a polling booth, wait in a long queue and then tell the polling official your name and address. You are then asked if you have voted previously in the election and after you say no the official checks you off the list and hands you the ballot papers.

[Liggy]

In Germany the invite letter says that you have to identify yourself with your ID card. However I was never asked to show it since I was allowed to vote.

[TSJnachos117]

Where I live, the California, USA, I didn’t really get to vote. [I]Officially[/I] I casted a “preliminary vote”, meaning my vote is pending some kind of verification (like so many others, I was registered as “vote-by-mail”, even though I didn’t register myself as vote-by-mail). Unofficially, pretty much every California citizen who has had a preliminary vote knows that this is just voting censorship in disguise. Is that fraudulent or what?

[QUOTE=UTR;2779245]Personally, I believe this is a bad idea considering the importance of the function and the strong need to keep fraud out of elections.[/QUOTE]In America, the requirement for ID [I][B]is[/B][/I] voting fraud. In some states, voters are denied ID specifically so that they can’t vote. This is often motivated by racism.

[UTR]

[QUOTE=TSJnachos117;2779536]In America, the requirement for ID [I][B]is[/B][/I] voting fraud. In some states, voters are denied ID specifically so that they can’t vote. This is often motivated by racism.[/QUOTE]

It is motivated by politics not racism. As can be seen by the posts from most people outside the USA, presenting a photo ID prior to voting is the norm and not the exception. Voter fraud is real and unless measures are taken to prevent it then the outcome of elections may not necessarily be based on the will of the legitimate voters.

[Mr_Belvedere]

[QUOTE=TSJnachos117;2779536]

Where I live, the California, USA, I didn’t really get to vote. [I]Officially[/I] I casted a “preliminary vote”, meaning my vote is pending some kind of verification (like so many others, I was registered as “vote-by-mail”, even though I didn’t register myself as vote-by-mail). Unofficially, pretty much every California citizen who has had a preliminary vote knows that this is just voting censorship in disguise. Is that fraudulent or what?

In America, the requirement for ID [I][B]is[/B][/I] voting fraud. In some states, voters are denied ID specifically so that they can’t vote. This is often motivated by racism.[/QUOTE]

Here if you don’t vote, i do believe the vote gets mixed in some strange formula and actually goes to some of the biggest parties. Only if you make your vote illegal (like coloring more than one checkbox) your vote will not count. Even leaving blank counts as a non-vote and gets mixed in the formula. It’s really weird and not a lot of people understand it. (Myself included).

Your get your voting papers by mail, which have all your basic information printed on them. You are required to show a valid id as well, otherwise you can’t vote.

Now that i think and type about it, i do believe that voting paper also includes your social security number for everyone to read. It’s a simple sheet of paper without an envelope around it. Hmm…

[Albert]

[QUOTE=TSJnachos117;2779536]Where I live, the California, USA, I didn’t really get to vote. [I]Officially[/I] I casted a “preliminary vote”, meaning my vote is pending some kind of verification (like so many others, I was registered as “vote-by-mail”, even though I didn’t register myself as vote-by-mail). Unofficially, pretty much every California citizen who has had a preliminary vote knows that this is just voting censorship in disguise. Is that fraudulent or what?

In America, the requirement for ID [I][B]is[/B][/I] voting fraud. In some states, voters are denied ID specifically so that they can’t vote. This is often motivated by racism.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=UTR;2779550]It is motivated by politics not racism. As can be seen by the posts from most people outside the USA, presenting a photo ID prior to voting is the norm and not the exception. Voter fraud is real and unless measures are taken to prevent it then the outcome of elections may not necessarily be based on the will of the legitimate voters.[/QUOTE]

While I can’t opine here, I will say that:

Voter fraud is obviously a real concept.
Obtaining a valid ID is also often a hurdle to be crossed (where, whether due to malicious intent or not, people have to jump through extra hoops to gain valid ID and often enough are unable to get the ID in time). It is an issue in specific communities, which ends up effectively causing the discrepancy you two are discussing now.

So long as we acknowledge both of those facts and move on, all will be well. Any further discussion of that bit may have to move to PMs.

[olyteddy]

In Washington USA we all vote by mail.

[DrageMester]

[QUOTE=olyteddy;2779620]In Washington USA we all vote by mail.[/QUOTE] Washington DC or Washington state?

[olyteddy]

[QUOTE=DrageMester;2779626]Washington DC or Washington state?[/QUOTE]

State.