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Comment by yohannparis | Hacker News Reader

Just to be accurate, we do not write anything, you gather an envelope and take 12 pieces of paper (one for each candidate), then in the booth, you fill the envelope with your chosen candidate.

There is a bin to dispose of the other papers, or dispose of them elsewhere for complete anonymous. Most people just take the one they want, or the few they are still undecided before getting in the booth.

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This system doesn't feel good especially because they are allowed to "just take the one they want". It feels like an easy system to game with the goal to make sure that people vote what they are told to vote. Maybe nobody even thinks about doing such things in France, lucky you.

This has reminded me what happened on the other side of the Alps in the elections of 1929. People received two envelopes. One with the national flag on the inside and a white one. They left inside the booth the one they didn't like and gave the other one back to the scrutineers. The outside was almost the same but the color inside was visible from the outside [1] Guess the result. Hint: almost 99% to 1%.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1929_Italian_general_election

[2] https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elezioni_politiche_in_Italia_d... for more details and pictures of the cards inside out.

> This system doesn't feel good especially because they are allowed to "just take the one they want".

You actually have the obligation to take at least two of them. I'm not sure how strongly this is enforced, but most people take a few of them.

I have an old memory of my grandmother being scolded because she only wanted to take the paper of the guy she wanted to vote for. And the assessors at my local voting place usually complain when people pick only one paper and want to bypass the voting booth (but it is not like they will come to blows over this).

Is it difficult or utterly impossible to fold the other card and put in a pocket and show it to somebody else outside the polling station?

That would open hacks like "pick my card and my worst opponent one, vote for me and show me my opponent card. And pray that I get at least as many votes as the cards of my opponent that people bring to me."

in addition to the papers you can pick in the polling station, in the week before the election, French people should receive the papers for all available candidates, so you don't even have to take a paper at the same time as the envelop (or take a few papers and then use one from your pocket).

Hmm what if you are monitored, given a paper and then checked that you don't have any extra on body? Seems like entirely possible via violence or blackmail to gain some votes...

Usually a voting official standing nearby will ask that you pick from at least 2-3 piles.

I guess I worded that poorly. I don't mean you whip out some printer paper, write the names of the people you're voting for, and hand it in. Here in the States, you have a list of bubbles to fill in, and an "other" option. I assume that's how it is in most places. I was just making a distinction between "filling in the bubble on paper" and using a computer.

> Here in the States, you have a list of bubbles to fill in, and an "other" option. I assume that's how it is in most places.

I think a major difference is that in most places in Europe at least there is no "Other" option - the list of candidates is fixed by some legal date before the election. Doing anything other than choosing one of the official candidates simply means that your vote is invalid. Invalid votes are all counted together, not matter what made them invalid (a torn paper is counted the same as a paper where you wrote Mickey Mouse or spilled coffee on it); with the possible exception of blank votes, which are sometimes counted separately as "protest votes" (though I don't believe they have any legal significance, at best they may carry symbolic significance).

Also you receive by snail mail the voting paper piece for each candidate (and 1 page document each on their program) before the election takes place.

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