The French Election is a huge waste of paper
The French election are riding high on the news cycle. The field has narrowed into a straight fight between Front National’s Marine Le Pen and independent Emmanuel Macron. Round 2 will be defined not what the French are for but what they are against. Do you want a samey rosy-fingered dawn (Marcon) or a honey-soaked past dipped in aspic (Le Pen)?
But this post is about the system. In Round 1, French voters were given 11 pieces of paper – 1 for each candidate. In the booth they choose 1 and put it in envelope. The rest are, presumably, thrown away. More paper is printed than used. There is no electronic voting and very few voting machines.
Voting underway in France. Voters take 11 pieces of paper; 1 for each candidate. In the booth they choose 1 and put it in envelope @SkyNews pic.twitter.com/2pCicrbgsB
— Mark Stone (@Stone_SkyNews) April 23, 2017
Michæl Saunby tweets: “Avoids the need for pencils, which some (kippers) have a phobia of.”
Indeed, at the EU referendum some voters smelled a rat:
@Rox_Tans tweeted: “When you vote take a pen with you! They just tried making me do mine in pencil yeah ok so you can rub it out? Don’t think so bruv.”
Echoing this sentiment, @Kez_777 wrote: “Please make sure you take a BLACK PEN with you to vote as pencil votes can be tampered with (I wouldnt put anything past Cameron) #VoteLeave”
So is the French system better?
Posted: 24th, April 2017 | In: Politicians, Reviews, Technology Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
