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What US can learn from India about electoral process
There are many good things that can be said about the US electoral system – its presidential debates, its robust two-party system, its unique conduct of primaries that allow parties to choose their candidates, and its professional approach to campaigning – but when it comes to the actual act of voting, America is in the Stone Age.
Our Election Commission can teach the Yanks a thing or two. Here are some of them.
First, electronic voting. India is 100 percent on electronic voting machines (EVMs). We use EVMs in every election. In the US, while some states (Ohio, for instance) are using EVMs this time, two-thirds of the voting will still take place on old-fashioned paper ballots. Several square miles of trees are still being killed in the name of democracy. The reason: America has too much democracy, where every county or district can choose its own method of voting – paper or electronic ballot.
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and wife Ann Romney vote in Belmont. AP
Second, all voters get a level information field. Our votes are counted only after the polling is over. Thus, voting patterns in one place will not influence voting behaviour in other places. For example, the Himachal elections are over, but the results won't be out till the Gujarat polling is over in December.
In America, poll results are declared in the early voting states even before people start exercising their franchises in states featuring in the later time zones. Results on the East Coast of America can be pronounced – or called – based on margins when Californians are still heading for the polling booths.
This can completely change results in a close race since people may not bother waiting in queues to vote when it appears that their candidate has already won – or lost.
Third, Indian voters get a holiday to vote. American voters don't. While some companies do give their employees a day off, Tuesday, 6 November, is not a national holiday. States, however, give employees the right to take a day off if they want to. To enable people to vote, some American states also allow voters to exercise their franchise before D-day.
Four, unlike India, the US does not have an independent election commission. Local officials, who are often blatantly partisan, are given enormous powers to determine the outcomes of close elections. This is one reason, apart from a flawed paper process, that ended up sending George W Bush to the White House in the closely contested 2000 elections. A few counties in Florida put paid to Al Gore's hopes.
Five, voting is often more tedious in America. For a country with less than a fourth of India's population, the voting queues are longer in the US. Even in India, queues can be long. But in America, it can be excruciatingly long, especially given the cumbersome processes. This year the Florida ballot runs into more than 20 pages – and TV interviewers talked to voters who said they had joined queues twice over two days, but still had to give up after waiting for two hours each time. It seems it takes 15 minutes for each Florida voter to read and complete his ballot, which contains choices for other races beyond the presidential one. Yesterday, there were seven hour-long lines in Florida.
Six, in the US presidential race, even losers can win. Thanks to the system of electoral college, where states have a fixed share of electoral votes, it is the candidate who crosses the halfway mark in terms of electoral votes (270 out of 538) who wins. But the candidate who wins in the electoral college could actually get less popular votes. Al Gore in 2000 was one such case. He got more popular votes, but George Bush won more electoral college votes.
And that, as we all know, changed the course of recent history.
What US can learn from India about electoral process | Firstpost
There are many good things that can be said about the US electoral system – its presidential debates, its robust two-party system, its unique conduct of primaries that allow parties to choose their candidates, and its professional approach to campaigning – but when it comes to the actual act of voting, America is in the Stone Age.
Our Election Commission can teach the Yanks a thing or two. Here are some of them.
First, electronic voting. India is 100 percent on electronic voting machines (EVMs). We use EVMs in every election. In the US, while some states (Ohio, for instance) are using EVMs this time, two-thirds of the voting will still take place on old-fashioned paper ballots. Several square miles of trees are still being killed in the name of democracy. The reason: America has too much democracy, where every county or district can choose its own method of voting – paper or electronic ballot.
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and wife Ann Romney vote in Belmont. AP
Second, all voters get a level information field. Our votes are counted only after the polling is over. Thus, voting patterns in one place will not influence voting behaviour in other places. For example, the Himachal elections are over, but the results won't be out till the Gujarat polling is over in December.
In America, poll results are declared in the early voting states even before people start exercising their franchises in states featuring in the later time zones. Results on the East Coast of America can be pronounced – or called – based on margins when Californians are still heading for the polling booths.
This can completely change results in a close race since people may not bother waiting in queues to vote when it appears that their candidate has already won – or lost.
Third, Indian voters get a holiday to vote. American voters don't. While some companies do give their employees a day off, Tuesday, 6 November, is not a national holiday. States, however, give employees the right to take a day off if they want to. To enable people to vote, some American states also allow voters to exercise their franchise before D-day.
Four, unlike India, the US does not have an independent election commission. Local officials, who are often blatantly partisan, are given enormous powers to determine the outcomes of close elections. This is one reason, apart from a flawed paper process, that ended up sending George W Bush to the White House in the closely contested 2000 elections. A few counties in Florida put paid to Al Gore's hopes.
Five, voting is often more tedious in America. For a country with less than a fourth of India's population, the voting queues are longer in the US. Even in India, queues can be long. But in America, it can be excruciatingly long, especially given the cumbersome processes. This year the Florida ballot runs into more than 20 pages – and TV interviewers talked to voters who said they had joined queues twice over two days, but still had to give up after waiting for two hours each time. It seems it takes 15 minutes for each Florida voter to read and complete his ballot, which contains choices for other races beyond the presidential one. Yesterday, there were seven hour-long lines in Florida.
Six, in the US presidential race, even losers can win. Thanks to the system of electoral college, where states have a fixed share of electoral votes, it is the candidate who crosses the halfway mark in terms of electoral votes (270 out of 538) who wins. But the candidate who wins in the electoral college could actually get less popular votes. Al Gore in 2000 was one such case. He got more popular votes, but George Bush won more electoral college votes.
And that, as we all know, changed the course of recent history.
What US can learn from India about electoral process | Firstpost
