So here I am, downstream in the Washington DC area with the opportunity to watch television. Of course, it is just before elections, but, oy veh, the attack ads are dreadful. Mercifully I am not from around here so can't get worked up about the people running in Maryland and Virginia but if these ads are any indication of what is going on out there, even in my beloved state of Vermont, I am thankful I have no part of it.
As for the election/voting process itself...
Having served as an international observer to the Salvadoran presidential election in 2004, I saw things in their campaign process that I wouldn't mind having here, such as:
-- the campaign ends two weeks before the elections (which are on Sundays). The parties hold big celebrations celebrating the end of the campaign. Of course, even though the campaign has ended in El Salvador, it doesn't mean that people don't try to get outsiders to meddle, as did happen in 2004. Rep. Tom Tancredo from Colorado inserted himself into the elections, even from afar.(He focused on immigration and remittances, las remesas.)
-- no liquor is sold 24 hours prior to, during and after the elections. I don't quite know how much that calms things down but don't try to buy something even as simple as a beer in that time period.
-- as for casting one's vote, it is a very involved process. First one must present a DUI (documento universal de indentitad), then be fingerprinted. One's DUI is checked against a list by three people. Then they hold onto the DUI, give the voter the ballot. After casting one's ballot, the voter must sign one's name or, if they cannot write, leave a thumbprint against their name. Lastly, they must dip their right pinky into indelible (really, it lasts for two to three days) purple ink.
-- at least in the public spaces, the process for counting votes is transparent and with a lot of internal checks. A member from each political party watches as the ballots are counted. Each station has 400 possible voters; the total number of ballots cast plus uncast ballots must equal 400. Each ballot is numbered -- when a voter takes a ballot, the workers tear off the numbered corner and retain it. They then have to count up the corners, plus the marked ballots. Everyone present, from each party, must agree on a spoiled ballot. They all count together how many votes are cast for each party and then how many are spoiled. It's thorough and public.
I find it ironic that the US sends voters to observe other countries' elections.... there are places in this country where we could use some observers.
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