Ballots
In spite of the fact that many countries have carried out electronic voting,
paradoxically especially developing countries and even in spite of how old the practice is, for example in local elections in the United States, the reality is that in the vast majority of the cases they simply entail experimental, parallel counts and they are even carried out by data processing or communications companies and not by the official authority of the electoral process.
Although the system most probably has great possibilities for future development, elections all over the world presently take place by means of ballots with the names of the candidates to be chosen from in the constituency, without any significant exceptions.
In this respect a fundamental distinction can be established between systems
with a single ballot and multiple ballot systems. In the former, all the candidacies that run in the election appear on one single ballot, on which the voter has to indicate his or her preference. In multiple ballot systems, each candidacy has their own ballot, so the voter has to choose the one pertaining to the candidacy of his or her choice. In this case, the electoral administration must guarantee that all the ballots are available in similar quantities and placed in accessible locations.
Another classification, partly coinciding with the previous one, can be established between systems that only permit voting with ballots officially manufactured and duly checked by the electoral administration, so the citizens will only have access to them at the time of voting, and other systems, normally with multiple ballots, in which an official model of the ballot is approved by the administration and the necessary number manufactured for voting. But this does not prevent each candidacy from producing their own ballots according to the official model and distributing them among their voters who may use them to vote.
No doubt the most adequate and the most widespread procedure is the single ballot manufactured officially. Allowing candidacies to produce their ballots does not hold any apparent advantage and has at least three clear drawbacks:
- potential to become an instrument of electoral fraud, insofar as it considerably reduces the guarantees of a personal nature and the secrecy of the vote
- can hamper and slow down scrutiny operations, as doubts may arise about the validity of the ballots;
- enhances the costs of the elections considerably, as the state is not only obliged to produce a disproportionately large number of ballots, but in addition, those manufactured by the parties are normally considered as electoral expenses and their mailing is financed publicly.
As far as their contents are concerned, ballots must include the names of the candidates and of the candidacy that they represent. It is also very common for them to include the symbol of the candidacy, as a means of facilitating voting for illiterate voters. To the same purpose, a photo of the candidate or those heading the lists, is included, although the cost is substantially higher. This is all the less justifiable if it is in colour or on very thick paper, taking into account it's use as a voting instrument.
As a rule, the item of the budget assigned to ballots is considerably high, often for reasons that cannot be justified from the point of view of freedom to vote, an especially undesirable situation, considering that the expense is strictly for a transitory transaction. For financial considerations, the ballot, as a voting instrument and not as electoral propaganda, must be operational and yet economical, as simple as freedom and secrecy of voting will permit.
Other Materials
As additional guarantees to these characteristics of the right to vote, some systems specify that the ballots must be put into electoral envelopes and that there must be a voting booth available to the voters where they may cast their vote.
In many systems, it is compulsory to use the booth and in others it is simply a choice to the voter. Often it depends on whether it is single or multiple ballot system.
Across the board, it can be said that envelopes are an unnecessary, costly
and intrinsically bothersome element or that it at least slows down vote counting. This is something that can easily be overcome by making the ballots from slightly thicker paper.
On the contrary, compulsory utilisation of the booths is an advisable practice, of high pedagogic value, even in countries where the right to vote cannot be doubted at all. The use of indelible ink we have already mentioned is also considered as material for guaranteeing the democratic nature of voting.
Finally, the basic electoral material is completed with a record or records that contain the electoral results and the different incidents that occurred at each voting station. These documents acquire extraordinary importance in the electoral processes insofar as the official count and the assignation of the relevant seats are normally based on this type of record and not directly on the votes (see Close of Voting).
Because of this, plus taking into account that in addition, in the vast majority of countries, they will be completed by citizens who do not possess any special knowledge on the matter, it is absolutely indispensable for the forms to be very simple, understandable to any citizen.
The lower the social and cultural development of the country in question, the more exponential the need for this. Curiously enough, this essential aspect for the execution of an electoral process, does not usually receive the attention it deserves, neither by the electoral organisations nor by the international organisations that monitor the elections.
The importance of these records is also reflected in the fact that normally they are completed at least in duplicate and they have to be sent to the electoral authority by alternative procedures, in an effort to ensure that they are there on the day of the general review when they are indispensable.
