By virtue of my British citizenship, I have (had? With Brexit, who knows?) the right to vote in European elections and local elections, but not national elections.
I missed the deadline for the last European elections because I found out about the right to vote at the last moment (much to my dismay; I love finding out about how different countries do things, and voting is certainly important!). So when it was time to elect a local mayor, I definitely wanted to be counted!
Here was the process:
1. I went to City Hall to tell them I wanted to vote. They were very welcoming and kind, but said that I couldn't register yet because it was too early. One can only register a maximum of x number of days in advance (45? This detail eludes me now). The only problem was that the date of the election had not yet been fixed, so they had no idea of when I could/should actually register. I was to come back "at some point, probably in May."
2. I went back to City Hall, in May. They were so happy to see me, remembered the situation, and nope! Still too early. Plus, technical problem: they didn't yet have the recent voter registration forms. They were extremely accommodating, though, and suggested (to avoid a third trip) that I fill in the old forms since they would probably be identical (except for the year printed at the top). If they couldn't use that form, they assured me that they would call.
3. Feeling a bit nervous, I went back a few weeks later. Everything was great! And ready! And the forms I had used would be just fine! Now, I just had to wait for a letter from the city to tell me that I had been approved and could pick up my voter registration card. I waited.
4. The letter arrived. In the meantime, however, I had learned that the elections had in fact been scheduled...for the time that I would be in Milan! GAH! That meant no voting for me...there is no provision for an absentee ballot. My only chance to vote would be if there were a runoff election; this was a possibility, given that there were something like 7 candidates. Discouraged, I didn't bother to run by City Hall to get my voter card.
5. While in Milan, I heard that there would, in fact, be a runoff! Much excitement in the Hook camp (at least on my part). Sadly, the candidates were "not great" and "worse," which of course does diminish one's enthusiasm. Nonetheless, new experiences, right?
6. I went by City Hall to pick up my voter registration card. This is what they gave me:
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| This is about 4" x 7", trifold |
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| They add a stamp when you vote. This is good for up to 18 elections. |
7. Time for the actual voting! A room in Jeremy's school had been converted into a polling center. This involved installing access ramps to the school, and a few carabinieri sprinkled about the place. Upon entering, the officials indicated a room, where one of my acquaintances (Barbara) greeted me enthusiastically. There were two registration tables: women's and men's (for no apparent reason, but whatever). Barbara couldn't check me in because she was at the men's table, but told the fellow at the women's table that she knew me so don't worry about the identity card. I pulled it out anyway. I was handed a large (9" by 18"?) piece of paper that was a tealy blue on the outside with lots of hashmarks (to prevent visibility, I'd guess). On the inside, the space was divided into two large squares via borders. One square had the name of "not great" with his supporting parties. The other had "worse" and his supporting parties. I had been told to
cross out the name of the candidate for whom I wanted to vote and leave the other as-is. As I entered the booth (a little temporary aluminum jobby with black curtains, much as in the US), I realized that they'd given me a pencil. REALLY? This didn't give a lot of confidence, particularly given that there had already been rumors of vote-tampering. To proceed:
I disobeyed the rules and not only crossed out the name of "not great" but also wrote his name in the square containing his name. Hard. I wanted to do what I could to make sure that my vote wasn't changed. Who knows, perhaps that was enough to disqualify my ballot, but I at least wanted my intention to be clear. Next step was to fold the ballot into eighths and drop it into a large cardboard box with a slit cut into the top. Oh, the box had a paper label stuck to it that said something about its being a ballot box.
And, done!
So, a few observations:
1. The campaigning started for one candidate a few months in advance, but many didn't announce their candidacy until about two weeks in advance.
2. In the first round of voting, not only could one vote for the mayor of choice, but also for councilors. Each councilor also announce his/her candidacy under a particular mayor's flag, as it were. These candidacies were announced largely via Facebook.
3. Once the runoff had been established, the non-elect mayoral candidates were expected to show their support for one of the two in the runoff. All their councilors were then subsumed into that chosen candidate.
4. The winning mayoral candidate would then take for his ten councilors those who had taken the most personal votes in the prior election (whether or not they were on his original ballot).
Oh, and I checked with Barbara later. She said very definitely that the pencils were specially designed to write only on the ballot paper, and could not be erased from the paper once it had been marked.
Love,
Alexandra
(Oh, and "not great" won by 26 votes!)
