300 MILLION BALLOTS COUNTED BY HAND!

[kster]

Nearly 300 million ballot
papers must be counted by hand

Power struggle looms after Indian election
In this story:

Nearly 300 million ballot papers must be counted by hand

March 3, 1998
Web posted at: 9:26 a.m. EST (1426 GMT)

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- India's political rivals were heading for a coalition government power struggle on Tuesday as latest general election results suggested that no clear winner would emerge in the country's parliamentary election.

After 30 hours of counting, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies were in a strong lead with an expected tally of about 245 seats in the 545-member lower house of parliament.

But the BJP looked set to fall short of the majority required to form a government once the roughly 300 million ballot papers are all counted.

The centrist Congress party trailed in a distant second place as it became clear that the huge crowds that turned up for the election rallies of Sonia Gandhi -- widow of former premier Rajiv Gandhi -- had not translated into huge votes.

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9803/03/india.elex.wrap/index.html

[eridani]

1. For only one race and a party slate--

--not for a whole slew of candidates from overlapping jurisdictions.

[kster]

2. But still 300 million if

they were able to do it, WE CAN DO IT!

Even with a slew of candidates from overlapping jurisdictions, WE CAN DO IT!

[eridani]

3. Dammit, it's just one race!

With ONE kind of ballot!

[kster]

4. Dammit , We are AMERICANS, AND WE CAN DO IT!!!!!!! nt

[eridani]

5. Us and what army?

There are not enough volunteers to oversee the processes that are now in place. Big shortfalls in poll worker recruiting.

[kster]

6. The problem is, is that the American people have not

come to realize that their vote, IN REALITY, is being counted IN SECRET, thanks to the SILENCE of ALL the politicians and the media, once the American people come to realize and understand what is happening with their vote , you can bet, that AMERICA will be HAND COUNTING the votes.

We are a movement that CAN'T BE STOPPED!

[eridani]

7. When 50% of us don't care enough to vote at all in most elections?

We have an entire political culture to revivify first.

[Kelvin Mace]

12. If you mean reforming the voting system

to eliminate paperless voting, no we can't be stopped. If you are referring to imposing a system that is impossible, it is DOA.

[Kelvin Mace]

11. No, we can't

To quote Scotty, "Ya canna repeal the laws of physics."

In this case once you start trying to deal with the complaexities of ballots styles, ballots types, numerous races and the massive number of ballots, MANUAL.SYSTEMS.CANNOT.COPE.

Family farms that use fewer pesticides and fertilizers are great. However, factory farms are several orders of magnitude higher in yield per acre.

I don't like that fact, but it is a fact none the less.

[Kelvin Mace]

10. You just don't get it

Two problems making the comparison to India.

1) It is ONE race.

2) The counts are notoriously fraudulent in many places.

[Stevepol]

8. Believe it or not, I believe India uses voting machines too.

Not sure how extensively, but I'm sure I read that they use voting machines now.

[kster]

9. I saw this article and couldn't resist, 300 million

ballots counted by hand. I think they are experimenting with machines.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

13. 380 Million Indians Cast Votes Electronically in 2004

2004 India had all-electronic vote

The Bombay Ballot
What the U.S. can learn from India's electronic voting machines.

By Eric Weiner
Posted Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2004, at 8:17 AM ET

...While we in the United States agonize over touch screens and paper trails, India managed to quietly hold an all-electronic vote. In May, 380 million Indians cast their votes on more than 1 million machines. It was the world's largest experiment in electronic voting to date and, while far from perfect, is widely considered a success. How can an impoverished nation like India, where cows roam the streets of the capital and most people's idea of high-tech is a flush toilet, succeed where we have not?
http://www.slate.com/id/2107388 /

More about India's voting machines here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_voting_machines

[kster]

14. Great article, Thanks............. nt

[Patsy Stone]

15. Ya know

they always like to make it seem that it's impossible to do this here, but it's not. I never understood that.

K&R

[kster]

16. You are correct it is not impossible.........nt