Voting and Democracy

"It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting". Tom Stoppard [British dramatist & screenwriter (1937 - )], from his play "Jumpers" (1972) Act 1.

How true! In some countries, the voting takes places with a single candidate or single party on the ballots and the counting takes places in great secrecy.

In the US voting takes places in firehouses, churches and schools. The ballots are filled with many candidates, representing Dems, GOPs, Greens, Independents, Libertarians, etc. Counting takes place openly, sometimes chad by hanging chad, with reporters watching intently. Between elections, voters of all sorts argue the merits of different ways of voting - paper ballots, punch cards, e- voting, e-voting w/paper backup.

Now that real democracy.