It is high time to sweep clean their own door. Sweden has invested considerable resources to teach other countries how to build democracy by organizing public, free and secret elections. The same principle is enshrined in our constitution but in practice there are a number of problems with how elections are organised in Sweden today.
Sweden has in recent years received embarrassing attention of several international audits. The european commission has asked for a declaration that Sweden does not seem to live up to democracy’s minimum requirements. International observers from, inter alia, the OSCE has voiced their criticism after the latest elections.
A part of the Swedish voters have the ballots when they go to vote, and a part receiving the ballot papers outside the polling stations. Many of the voter picks the ballot papers inside the ballot box and several takes then only his own party. Most seem to not bother to hide what they are voting on.
To vote by typing in a number will be a novelty for the swedes but is a matter of habit for our Finnish neighbours.
at long last, the electoral law has now changed in order to better protect would. But the new system has major flaws.
the Proposal, however, received harsh criticism. The riksdag has therefore stayed for another system. Places with ballot papers shall now be masked for transparency.
But both of these solutions have the same serious problems. Increases the risk for sabotage and manipulation. It will be very easy for a voter to privately remove or mix the ballots. It becomes in practice impossible for röstmottagarna to check both valsedelsplats and polling booth after each person voted.
for example, What happens if someone less scrupulous voters picks with the entire stack of a motståndarpartis ballots? How will the next voter to do without revealing its partival? Would is once again threatened.
the Amendment will also increase the problem of party interference in the electoral administration. Partiföreträdarna forced to run out and into the polling stations to check that their own ballot is submitted. There is much to suggest, therefore, that the situation is not improving but, on the contrary get worse.
The current electoral law, saying that a polling station should be arranged so that voters are not hindered or disrupted during the voting process. In the polling station or the adjacent space, it must not be propaganda, or otherwise intended to affect or prevent the voters of their choice. The same applies in the premises for voting in advance.
Some municipalities, like Sweden, have already banned the valsedelsutdelning and other propaganda at the röstmottagningsställen.
a Further problem with the Swedish way of voting is that it requires a lot of ballots. Before the elections in 2018 was printed close to 700 million ballot papers. It involves a large waste of resources and is also practically difficult to manage.
but without changing the current electoral system with proportional representation, constituencies, spärrgränser and personröstning.
the Proposal requires no constitutional change, and could be implemented for the elections in 2022.
the Proposal makes the ballot, as in other countries, an official personal document. There shall be a single ballot per constituency in the parliamentary election and one ballot paper per municipality, the respective county councils. The ballot then becomes a valuable document and distributed together with the ballot envelope when the voter goes into the polling station. At the general election will receive option not just now three ballot envelope, but also three different colored ballots.
A principle, which combines ideas from Sweden, Finland and Denmark, illustrates how the ballot could be designed. You vote by putting a cross in front of his party. If you want you can, now, also deliver a personröst. In our proposal, you vote for a candidate by writing a number on the line for their party.
Artikelförfattarmas principle of a new ballot paper.
To vote by typing in a number will be a novelty for the swedes but is a matter of habit for our Finnish neighbours. A ballot paper in Finland only have a round ring. Where to vote in both party and personal candidate by typing in a number. If you have not already figured out which number to write, funding, and information on the röstningsstället.
the Order between the parties can look at different ways. Alphabetical order is a possibility. You can, as in south Africa, let the lot decide which party should be first. To arrange parties along a political scale, however, would be impossible in today’s multidimensional world. In our example, the parties arranged according to magnitude. The question of what order should be selected in Sweden, we leave open.
With our proposals, it will be easier to keep order in and around the röstmottagningslokalerna. Only one voter is admitted at a time and the next will have to wait until a polling booth becomes available. Familjeröstning, where several people going in at the same time behind a polling booth, is contrary to democracy personlighetsprincip and can then be efficiently prevented.
The political parties should, therefore, not have any position with the electoral administration. The polls and röstningslokaler with the adjacent spaces become sanctuaries without propaganda and partiföreträdare. So is it in other countries and so it should be in a democracy.
”Valsystemets resistance against tampering is improved,” it says in the new regeringsförklaringen. Our proposal can be seen as a contribution to this reform. The Swedish voters deserve a way to vote that meet the basic requirements of general, free and secret elections.