Original question:

I work for an international organisation in Mali and I am following with great interest the Presidential elections in the Gambia.

I have noticed that, to elect their president, Gambian voters are not using traditional ballot papers, but a unique voting system with marbles.

I would be grateful if you could provide information why this system was introduced, how it works and its pros and cons?

Thanks in advance.

Reply received, with thanks, from:

• Jerome Leyraud
• Antonio Spinelli

Links to related resources:

• BBC: Gambians vote with their marbles Gambians are choosing their president by a unique drum and marble voting system.
• Gambia: Presidential election report (2006)
• Telegraph: Voting is a game of marbles for Gambia
• Gambia President Re-elected
  
• Independent Electoral Commission of The Gambia

The Gambia is conducting its elections through a unique voting system that was introduced in the early 1960's to address the high levels of illiteracy in the country.

This system is based on the use of tokens (clear-glass marbles) to be cast in separate iron-made drums (which serve as a ballot box) for each individual party/candidate. Each party/candidate competing in an election has a drum painted with its own identifying colours and their party symbol/photograph.

On election day, at the polling station, drums are placed behind the polling booth. Voters, after being issued a marble, proceed to the polling booth to vote. When a marble is introduced in the drum of the selected party/candidate, by falling, it hits a bell whose sound clearly indicates to the audience in the polling station that a vote was cast. To prevent hearing other sounds, when sealing the drum, polling officers place sand or sawdust into its bottom. It is also interesting to highlight that, since the sound is like a bell, on election day bicycles are banned from the immediate proximity of polling stations.

After the voting process has ended, votes are counted by placing the marbles into special trays (with either 200 or 500 holes), a simple system that allows counting officials to quickly ascertain the number of votes cast in each drum. 

The main, obvious, advantages of this unique voting system are that it is  simple, affordable and locally-owned. Gambian voters are well acquainted with, and it is reputedly difficult to rig.

The marble system requires, however, appropriate arrangments to ensure that the secrecy of the vote is maintained at all times. The drums, for instance, must be installed within well-fitted polling booths. 

The more candidates compete in the elections, the larger the polling booths must be. Should the bell not produce a ring when a voter is inside the polling booth, polling officers are required to check whether the marble was mishandled by the voter (for example, the marble could be laying down on the ground or perhaps it may have been simply left on the table where the drums are placed).

One of the disadvantages of this system is that it doesn’t allow voters to express a blank vote in secrecy. The absence of ringing clearly indicates to the audience in the polling station that a vote wasn’t cast in one of the drums.  It would be advisable to consider the adoption an additional drum to be used by voters willing to cast a blank vote (see Consolidated Repy: none of the above (NOTA) option). Also, slight (but clearly noticeable) tone-ringing differences between drums may produce unacceptable breaches in the secrecy of the vote and may lead to potential intimidation or undue influence on voters. 

Another possible disadvantage is that, unlike more "traditional" voting systems with ballot papers and ballot boxes, in the Gambian system the drums are placed behind the polling booth and, thus, they are not visible to polling officers and electoral observers. It could be relatively easily for a voter with fraudolent intentions, to invalidate - or at least delegitimise - the voting process in a given polling station by simply tampering with the security seals of any of the drums. 

Furthermore, in case of election-related disputes, the absence of ballot papers (and consequently, of a paper-trail with clearly marked ballots) makes an eventual post-election vote recount an exercise in which may prove more quite difficult to dispel or rebut any allegations of electoral fraud.   

Nevertheless, token-ballot system remains a very convenient voting system in a country with a large illiterate voting population and with limited financial resources.  Voter education initiatives can be easily limited to provide the electorate with basic explanations on how to introduce the token in a party-coloured drum.

Finally, escaping the financial and logistical burden of printing and dispatching ballot papers for every election, this system could be considered as affordable and sustainable. However, its reputation of non-manipulation - in particular ballot stuffing - is definitely over-rated.

To close with a curious note: as an effort to support the electoral process in The Gambia, Taiwan donated about 1.5 million marbles to be used as tokens for the voting process.

ACE PRACTITIONERS' NETWORK