2. Australia
Someone ordered a kebab on their senate voting paper today. (Photo @facebook)
— Matthew Karstunen (@MKarstunen)
Everyone in Australia gets two pieces of paper during election time. On the first, Aussies rank the candidates from most favorable to least favorable for the country’s House of Representatives. It decides who their local representative, or MP, is, and the party with the most MPs gets to form the government and their leader becomes the prime minister.
The second piece of paper decides who makes up the Senate. It’s so big that it’s often nicknamed the “table cloth” and because Aussies like to take the piss, many are returned with graffiti.
Voting is also compulsory in Australia. If you don’t vote you get a $20 fine.
ID: 9899557
5. Gambia
SERREKUNDA, GAMBIA: Steel drums used to vote for the presidential elections are seen in a polling station in Serrekunda, 22 September 2006. Bells from ballots being cast rang across Gambia Friday as hundreds of thousands of voters electing a new president threw small marbles into steel drums in a unique half-century old balloting system. The system dating back to 1958 involves throwing a marble into a steel cylindrical ballot drum of a voter's choice through a narrow tube, giving out the loud...
SERREKUNDA, GAMBIA: A man shows marbles used to vote for the presidential elections in a polling station in Serrekunda, 22 September 2006. Bells from ballots being cast rang across Gambia Friday as hundreds of thousands of voters electing a new president threw small marbles into steel drums in a unique half-century old balloting system. The system dating back to 1958 involves throwing a marble into a steel cylindrical ballot drum of a voter's choice through a narrow tube, giving out the loud...
Seyllou / AFP / Getty Images
In Gambia, people vote using marbles that are dropped into one of three metal drums representing the candidates. The system was introduced in the 1960s to accommodate high illiteracy, which still hovers at something like 50% of the total population.
To prevent fraud, the marbles, which are handed out at the polling booths, are of a certain style and color. Each drum has a bell attached on the inside so you can hear the marble dropping and can’t drop more than one marble. And bicycles are banned from polling stations because the bells sound like bicycle bells.
The whole exercise is pointless, though, because the same dictator has been in power for 20 years.
ID: 9896631
6. Germany
For the election of the German Bundestag, everyone gets two votes. One vote is for a direct candidate in the voter’s constituency and the winner in each constituency is the candidate with the most votes. The second vote is for a party, allowing the parties to fill more seats from electoral lists to gain proportional representation. To vote, you simply put a X in one box on each side.
During the local government elections, voters have special voting slips that can get ridiculously long. You can give “all” your votes to one party OR give your votes to individual candidates from different parties.
ID: 9896381
8. Japan
Kazuki Watanabe / BuzzFeed Japan
Japanese voters are required to write down the name of the party and the candidate they’re voting for. Voting rate in Japan is so low that a lot of restaurants and shops give discounts or free stuff to those who claim that they will vote or have voted.
Since Japanese voters write down names, there are a lot of complicated rules regarding whether the ballot can be considered valid or null. The voting ballot is made from special paper that doesn’t get damaged by water or chemicals — and is designed to unfold itself when taken out of the ballot box for counting.
ID: 9896596
9. Mexico
On election day in Mexico, an official hands over different ballots for candidates running for the presidency, Congress, and in some years, local government.
It is advised to bring your own pen that cannot be erased because it’s pretty common for people to erase the votes and alter them. Once someone votes, their fingers get inked so they can’t vote again.
Due to corruption problems, people often cancel their vote, and they choose to do that in the funniest ways.
ID: 9896462
10. Nepal
Nepal’s political parties multiply every election cycle, so each party uses its unique election symbol. For example, the parties leading the government right now use the hammer & sickle and tree symbols, while the main opposition party uses the sun.
At the voting booth, people get a stamp with a 卐 sign and an ink pad — and you’re supposed to stamp next to the symbol of the party you support, fold the ballot paper, and insert it into a box.
ID: 9896607
12. United Kingdom
Election ballots in the UK typically lists the number of candidates and you simply put a X-mark next to the candidate you choose. Earlier this year during the historic referendum, British people had two options to choose from. The rest is history.
Ballot papers are counted for the Banff and Buchan, Gordon, and West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine constituency counts in the General Election at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre in Aberdeen.
Getty Images, Andrew Milligan / PA Archive/PA Images
Election ballots in the UK typically list the number of candidates next to the election symbol of the political party they’re affiliated with, and you simply put an X next to the candidate you choose. During the referendum to decide whether the UK should leave or remain in the European Union in June, British people had two options to choose from. The rest is history.
ID: 9896347
Conz Preti, Mark Di Stefano, Rachael Krishna, Flora Paul, Alp Ozcelik, Bibine Barud, Monica Mark, Karsten Schmehl, and Ishmael Daro contributed to this post.
ID: 9897624
