Interview Results

10/5/2012

Over the long weekend, interview someone who has lived in another country about their experience voting or what they know about voting in that country. Summarize the results by writing your own post here- just a paragraph! Try to comment on ONE of your classmates' posts before class. Some potential questions you came up with today:
·     What age can you vote?
·     Are there any gender restrictions? Are there separate poling places?
·     How do you physically vote- what are the machines like? Are there machines or ballots? (What are the protocols for voting)
·     Where are the voting centers? How many are or were there?
·     What are your thoughts about voting there? How did or does it feel to vote?
·     What was your first experience voting like?

17 Comments

Rwan E.

10/8/2012 02:25:42 am

Recently in Egypt there were elections for president. For the past 30 years Egyptians have been voting but none of their votes counted because the elections were rigid. They had the same president for 30 years because none of their votes were being counted. When the Egyptians realized what was going on they had the Revolution of January 25th. I interviewed my cousin Mohamed Abed about their recent elections. He went and voted because for the first time in 30 years their votes are going to count. Also he wanted to have a new strong leader that would fix all the damage that was done in the past 30 years. My cousin would go around the area and post posters of Aboul Fotouh and he would go to public meetings about the elections. If that were me I'd probably be too lazy to go around do all those things. The elections in Egypt are slightly taken seriously than the elections in the USA.

Ameera Khan

10/8/2012 04:51:48 am

Well I asked my mom how the voting experience was like. She actually didn't get a chance to vote due to weather issues. Although she told me there really isn't a difference in Bangladesh for voting. An individual needs to be 18 to vote. The voting centers are held in local schools where people from the local community go to vote. There aren't any gender restrictions. It has an unoffcial 2 party system which has evolved over time from 1991.

Mariam Moustafa

10/8/2012 08:08:31 am

I agree with Rwan , for 30 years the Egyptians felt that their voice had no value and they couldn't change anything . That was one of the reasons of jaunary 25th Revolution . I interviewed my mother who voted in the last legislative elections she said that the voting centers were held in public schools protected by the Egyptian army and the police to prevent any forgery and to help the voters . She added : " for the first time all the Egyptians were very excited to participate and vote, they wrote new history for their country " . She believe that if her vote didn't change the results just participating made a difference .

Noura M.

10/8/2012 12:11:12 pm

I agree with Mariam and Rwan, for the past 30 years the Egyptians had no voice at all to stand up against the ex.president and that was one of the reasons of the jaunary 25th Revolution. They thought it was time for someone new to fix the damage that has been done. I interviewed my brother who was in Egypt during the elections he said voting centers were in public schools. Also he said it was time for a new leader that could fix what had happened in the past 30 years. He also added: " that everyone was excited to vote for the new president because now their votes will be counted".

Tenzin Youdon

10/8/2012 09:01:50 am

My mom was raised in Nepal, officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. I asked her if she ever voted when she was there but she said that she wasn't allowed to because Tibetans weren't given citizenship from the government of Nepal. The voting centers are mostly located in local public schools. In order to vote, you must be 18 years old. There aren't any gender restriction in Nepal but men and women have to stand in separate lines in order to put their votes in the ballots. Since Nepal was a monarchy, under the of King Birendra, until 1990, the citizen didn't have much say in any decisions. So now that they have the right to set their vote, they make a use of it and try to make their votes valuable.

Rwan E.

10/8/2012 10:24:18 am

In Egypt too they don't have any gender restrictions but stand in separate lines to vote.

Darija S

10/8/2012 10:33:18 am

That's very interesting to learn about that about Nepal, and not until recently it stoped being a Monarchy. Thank goodness for change and progress

Darija S.

10/8/2012 10:28:44 am

In Croatia if you are a citizen of Croatia and over the age of 18 and older you are able to vote in presidentail, parliamentary or local government elections. There is no or have ever been any gender restictions in the Croatian voting system. How they vote in Croatia is based on the ballot box and each vote is hand counted. There are voting places spread out in all parts of Croatia. Another fact about the voting system is that there are two sets of things you have to vote for. You have to vote for the president and the parliament You vote for president every 5 years and the limit of two-terms with a two-round system if needed and.Palariment every four-year, with no two-round system. My person never voted she never found the point of it.

Salsabil Hena

10/9/2012 07:50:58 am

Just like the Croatian voting system that Darija described, my country's voting system is somewhat similar. In Bangladesh, according to my cousin, there is also a ballot box to keep count of votes. The legal age is also 18 and there is currently a 5-year-term for elections.

What's a little different I guess is that at one time in the election, because the system apparently changes, the voters choose
stamps that are branded with the seal of the certain political party that they support and will use it to stamp their paper. My mom and cousin think that voters will use pen in the future for easiness. Another interesting thing to note is that the last election had women voters who were eager, probably because of the President's ally, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is a women and head of a political party.This isn't uncommon because another opposing women heads a political party but, it's nice to see that women have some type of "voice" in the voting process.

Beca Rodriguez

10/8/2012 11:13:14 am

I interviewed my uncle and the country that he voted in was Columbia. My uncle said that the legal age to vote is also 18 but in order to vote you must have your government issued ID card which in Columbia is called a Cedula. There are no gender restrictions and there are many different voting places depending on how many people live in that city. My uncle said that the way they vote in Columbia is that in private you get something that's like a brochure with the presidential candidates pictures on it and with a special marker you put an X on the candidates face that you want to vote for he said that you have to put the X directly on the face just in case something gets cut off. My uncle also said that there is a blank space on the brochure for voting that you could put an X in just in case you don't like any of the candidates but at least you still voted and those blank votes still count which I thought was very interesting. After you finish voting and put your vote in the box which is all locked up and secure they make you stick your pointer finger in a red dye like we saw in the video in class about the voting in Egypt. He said that his first voting experience was cool that he felt like he was doing something good for the government. When I asked him how he felt about voting he said that if you have the right to do so it's the best thing you could do.

Beca Rodriguez

10/8/2012 11:21:36 am

I find it interesting that all the countries that have been talked about so far including America the age that someone can start voting at is 18

Brooke Lopez

10/8/2012 11:44:09 am

I talked to a friend named Julia, who's 20 years old and loves in Italy. The voting age in Italy is 18. Italy doesn't have any gender restrictions, the poll stations is similar the US where the booth is covered by a big curtain. In Italy they use ballots, a staff member gives a card with the candidates names and you fill out who you want to vote for. Then once you're done you put your ballot in a big closed box. The two major political parties in Italy are Centre-Left, known as the Democratic Party, and Centre-Right, known as the People of Liberty. Voting centers in Italy are held in schools, which is similar to the US. Except that in Italy they are help in high schools only. When Julia first voted she felt great accomplishment. "For me, voting for the first time was a great responsibility... I was feeling excited and a little bit scared.But after all the schooling and knowledge I gained, I felt like I was actually all grown up. I felt like I was a young lady- an independent lady."

Erika Lucero

10/9/2012 06:42:03 am

I interviewed my dad and he was born in Mexico and raised there to. In Mexico the age to vote is once you hit 18 years old. My dad never got the chance to vote because he left Mexico to come to the U.S when he was 14. He said that Mexico voting process is very similar to the United States. Like Brooke interview about Italy , Mexico's voting is like Italy. You recieve a paper with allthe candidates and then closed in an envelope and put in a box. In order to vote you need to be a Mexican citizen , 18 years old like many countries, and have a valid voting id

Tenzin

10/9/2012 07:30:29 am

My mom wasn't able to vote because she wasn't Nepali. So it's interesting how every country required a citizenship in order to vote because even though we may or may not be a citizen, we all pay taxes and live in the same country so we should all be able to vote for someone who we believe will represent us.

Michelle Bravo

10/9/2012 01:03:50 pm

I interviewed my mom who was born in Ecuador and she said that if I were an Ecuadorian citizen I would be eligible to vote. 16 is the legal age to vote in Ecuador, it used to be 18 but it recently was lowered in 2008. It is mandatory that every single citizen votes, the only exceptions are if you are disabled, are in the armed forces, are a police officer, or are over the age of 65. Everything else is pretty much the same system as in the United States.

Nicolle Ponce

10/9/2012 10:15:36 pm

To learn about how other countries run their voting systems, I interviwed my mother on her experience on voting in Mexico. She said that the process is the same, two opposite parties try to get your vote and when it comes to voting you go yo a public school or government owned building. As the interview went on I notice that there was a lot of differences between the way American citizens vote and Mexican citizens vote.the only differenceis what happen after you come put of the voting station, they mark you so these no way you can vote again.

Katherine Remache

10/15/2012 01:22:17 pm

My father was the person I interviewed. I asked him about what it was like voting in his country since he was born and raised in Ecuador. My father only got the chance to vote twice and then later on he came to the U.S. From his experience, he was able to let me know that there was an equal amount of fairness between men and women voters. My father stated "the voting centers were in schools mostly, which is what I really remember." Since there wasn't much technology back then the votes were by ballots."My first time voting felt really good, good because I was finally able to have my voice heard." Although, the voting in Ecuador is much similar as voting in America, with many voting centers. The only difference is that EVERYONE would vote there and here no one really minds about the elections.

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