top ten
Top 10 ways Icelandic elections are different than American elections.
10. Elections happen on a Saturday, not a Tuesday. (So people can, you know, show up.)
9. Three poll workers for every 8 streets, not every 80.
8. Photo ID required.
7. No gun-toting cops at the polling place door.
6. Ballots basically just a heavy piece of paper folded in half. No envelopes.
5. Vote by marking an X in a box with a pencil. No hanging chads, no Diebold TABS.
4. Every voter automatically "registered" to vote, by virtue of being a citizen.
3. Choose the party, not the person. Cross out the people you don't want.
2. Polls open until 10 at night.
1. Turnout is steady; basically everyone votes.
10. Elections happen on a Saturday, not a Tuesday. (So people can, you know, show up.)
9. Three poll workers for every 8 streets, not every 80.
8. Photo ID required.
7. No gun-toting cops at the polling place door.
6. Ballots basically just a heavy piece of paper folded in half. No envelopes.
5. Vote by marking an X in a box with a pencil. No hanging chads, no Diebold TABS.
4. Every voter automatically "registered" to vote, by virtue of being a citizen.
3. Choose the party, not the person. Cross out the people you don't want.
2. Polls open until 10 at night.
1. Turnout is steady; basically everyone votes.
posted by JB at 25.4.09
4 Comments:
What's with #6? I have never used "envelopes" in the US.
Eh, Nafnlaus, maybe it´s just my addled brain, not having voted in person in the U.S. since the glorious year 2000. All my absentee ballots have gone in envelopes within envelopes. But back in my Cantabrigian days, I do seem to remember having some kind of fancy sleeve or other to screen the ballot from public view on its way to the box. The point is, the ballots themselves here are so simple, they´re basically just a piece of paper folded in half.
Addled is a good fit!
11. In Iceland, your vote counts but your opinion is ignored. In the US your vote doesn't matter and even if it did it would be ignored.
12. In the US, you are asked for your opinion on a huge number of smaller issues (i.e. initiatives), which are nearly all trick questions designed to benefit the political establishment or special interests out of the pig-trough that is the public treasury. In Iceland the politicians and special interests feed directly at the pig-trough public treasury.
13. In the US you get a cheerful "I voted!" sticker when you turn in your ballot. The Americans know how to do things right.
- Superman007
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