Discussion » Questions » Legal » If you’re from a country other than the USA, how does your country conduct elections?
Livvie

If you’re from a country other than the USA, how does your country conduct elections?

I know not a lot of people will be able to answer this since most of us are from the USA, but this question was inspired by this discussion: https://answermug.com/forums/topic/137135/state-makes-it-a-crime-to-be-in-possession-of-more-than-2-ballot/view/post_id/954685/

Do you have mandatory voting?
Does your country require ID to vote?
Do you have ballot drop boxes?
Do you have absentee voting?
Does your country allow third parties to deliver ballots?
Do you have mail-in voting?
What else do you do differently?

I’m just curious to see what the rest of the world does or doesn’t do.

Posted - April 24, 2022
Tags : None

Responses


  • 11150
    Canada has all the things on your list except mandatory voting (but I'm not sure about allowing third parties to deliver ballots). One thing that is different is when there is a election - there is only about three months in-between campaigning and voting day but in the US it seems like they go on for years. Cheers!
      April 24, 2022 3:05 PM MDT
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  • 3819
    In the US, it doesn't just SEEM to go on for years, it DOES go on for years.
      April 24, 2022 3:32 PM MDT
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  • 5451
    Only having three months of campaign season must be nice. We don’t have the winter, spring, summer or fall seasons here, it’s just perpetual campaign season. 
      April 25, 2022 10:36 PM MDT
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  • 16826
    Voting in Australia is compulsory unless a compelling reason for not doing so can be provided (illness, infirmity etc), some die-hards prefer to pay the fine.
    Elections can be called by the government at any time up to a maximum of three years.
    Pre-poll and absentee voting is common, mail and third party delivery are not permitted (at the last State election, drive-through voting was conducted for the first time as a sop to COVID-19). Drop boxes are used in remote locations.
    ID is required for at least one of a family, other voters from the family can be identified by the one who provides ID. Photographic identification is NOT required, many folks neither drive nor have passports, particularly the elderly.
    Election materials such as corflutes may not be distributed or displayed until the election is called (between 4-8 weeks before the day) and must be removed from display within 72 hours after the polls close.
    Overt advertising via mass media ceases 24 hours before polling booths open - that doesn't prevent Rupert from printing headlines and an editorial that amounts to propaganda on the day of the poll, unfortunately. This post was edited by Slartibartfast at April 25, 2022 10:29 PM MDT
      April 24, 2022 10:57 PM MDT
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  • 5451
    I like the part about campaign signs not being allowed to go up until four to eight weeks before the election and having to come down 72 hours after the election.  There are still Trump and Biden signs in my area that haven’t been removed even the signs for the candidates in the primary election coming up in June are already up.
      April 25, 2022 10:45 PM MDT
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  • I think our voting laws are more strict than those in other countries.

    Voting is compulsory for all citizens who are 18 to 70 years old. It's optional for those who are 16 and 17 years old. It's also optional for those who are 71 and older. I didn't vote until I was 18 because I was 22 when the voting age was lowered to 16. Usually, about 30% of those who are required to vote skip the election and pay the fine.  Voting is compulsory in both the primary and the general election. The primary election is on the primary election day nationwide. We don't have anything like the Iowa caucuses.

    We're required to show our national ID card when we vote.

    We don't have ballot drop boxes.

    We have absentee ballots and they may be returned by mail. The only voters who can get them that I know about are citizens who live abroad. Voting is optional for those who live abroad.

    Third parties don't deliver ballots. If someone brought ballots to a polling station, that person's next stop would be a police station.

    There's also no early voting here. Voting is from 8:00 to 18:00 on Election Day only.
      April 25, 2022 12:48 AM MDT
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  • 5451
    I know some people here who would absolutely love to have voting laws like that except for the part about people who are 16 years old being allowed to vote and the part about it being mandatory.
      April 25, 2022 10:51 PM MDT
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  • 34431
    Yep. Sign me up. With the exceptions you mentioned.  
      April 26, 2022 5:26 AM MDT
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  • 2219
    No, no, no, no, no, postal voting, different election systems for different election, FPTP for parliament, various eg STV or D'Honte for local or state, and formerly yet another for Europe. 
      April 26, 2022 10:57 AM MDT
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  • 5451
    I don’t have vote-by-mail where I live either, but in the US elections are entirely handled by the state, even federal elections.  States also decide which presidential candidates get to be on the ballot.  I have a lot of family members who live in Colorado where it’s 100% postal voting.  They also had way more choices of US presidential candidates than I did.

    The thing about postal voting is:
    “You’re not going to vote?”
    “Can I send in your ballot?”
    ”Sure.”

    Yeah, I know they do that.  They even admitted it.

    I wouldn’t consider that to be electoral abuse if both voters agree to it, but I could see a situation where there’s a control freak in the household who’s going to demand his wife or other family members vote a certain way.
      April 26, 2022 12:09 PM MDT
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  • 34431
    Yep. I guarantee there are families who sit.down together  and one person tells everyone how to fill out their ballot.

    Ii consider voting for someone who does not want to vote...fraud. 
      April 26, 2022 4:29 PM MDT
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  • 11150
    I think another difference in Canada elections is we have 5 political parties. And I think that keeps the parties on there toes because if they mess up Canadians will just vote for a different party. Cheers!
      April 26, 2022 12:36 PM MDT
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  • 5451

    We have more than two political parties.  The problem is that we’re convinced en masse that only Democrats and Republicans can win, so it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  

    The largest other political party we have is the Libertarian Party, which is the only consistent political party even though I’m not a libertarian.  I’m not a liberal or a conservative either, so none of the three or four parties that usually appear on my state’s ballots really represent my views.  

    The independent candidate that’s running for governor of my state this year really isn’t all that independent, she’s just an ultra-conservative who didn’t think she could win in a primary election so she’s running without a party.

    It’s looking like I’m going to have to leave some of the choices on my 2022 general election ballot blank unless my current governor somehow loses the upcoming primary election, which isn’t very likely.

      April 26, 2022 1:25 PM MDT
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