FLASH
Shkruar nga Eduard Zaloshnja
The new system risks many invalid votes...
In the June 2017 parliamentary elections, only 32,000 votes (1.9%) were invalid because the ballot paper was simple. In the April 2021 parliamentary elections, a full 83,000 votes were invalid. That is, 5% of voters got confused in filling out the ballot papers like a numerical crossword puzzle. And so, the votes went to waste…
This time, the ballot is indeed as big as a newspaper, but simpler than the numerical crossword puzzle of April 2021. On the ballot paper on May 11, voters will see 12 columns of candidate names (not numbers), one column for each electoral subject. So the percentage of invalid votes is expected to be less than the 5 percent in 2021, but still more than the 1.9 percent in 2017.
In the May 11 elections, the vast majority of voters will choose the electoral entity at the top of one of the 12 columns of the ballot, as well as the name of their preferred candidate in the same column. But some voters may be confused…
In which cases will the vote on May 11 be considered invalid:
-If the voter chooses one of the candidates in column X, for example, but gives his/her first vote for the electoral subject in column Y, his/her vote is wasted...
-If the voter chooses one of the candidates in column X, for example, but votes for two different subjects at the same time, the vote is wasted...
-If the voter simultaneously chooses two candidates from different columns of electoral subjects, his vote is wasted...
-If the voter does not prefer any candidate, but chooses two electoral subjects at once, the vote is obviously wasted...
-In the vast majority of the above scenarios, the errors may be unintentional. Some voters may be inadvertently confused...
In which cases will the vote on May 11 be considered valid?
-If the voter chooses the subject in column X, for example, and casts his personal vote for a candidate in column X, the vote is more than valid.
-If the voter casts a personal vote for a candidate in column X, for example, but does not choose any electoral subject at the top of the subject columns, the vote is valid for the candidate in question, as well as for the subject in column X.
-If the voter chooses the electoral subject at the top of column X, for example, but votes for two candidates from this subject at the same time, the vote is valid only for the subject and not for the candidates.
-If the voter chooses the electoral subject at the top of column X, for example, but does not vote for any candidate from this subject, the vote counts for the latter.
NOTE: There are rumors circulating in electoral folklore about small party votes being invalidated by some pen mark secretly added by big party counters. But to date, such rumors have not been proven with film footage during the vote count.
Lini një Përgjigje