ELECTION process the world over has kept pace with technology. While paper ballots still dominate, some countries have switched to the faster mode of electronic voting machines (EVM).
Smaller democracies have also attempted ‘i-voting’ where the vote is electronically submitted from anywhere including home. Gambia, the smallest nation on the African continent, just concluded the Presidential election using a method that is unbelievable in this century.
Marbles, literally the hard crystalline form of limestone, are used by voters to cast their vote – one marble dropped into a distinctly coloured box exhibiting a candidate’s photo is one vote.
So voters are handed over one marble each once the identification is done. After the polling, the marbles are emptied into a tray with a given number of holes (say 100). A full tray is thus 100 votes for that candidate.
Indeed the process is cumbersome. When there are many polling stations, it’s laborious to account each marble to the correct candidate. More the number of candidates, the election officials can get dizzy!
But Gambia completed the seemingly medieval procedure earlier this week and declared the winner.
Apparently the method was introduced considering the large-scale illiteracy in the tiny nation of two million. Well known as the ‘Smiling Coast of Africa’, Gambia is a popular tourist destination. Other than the scenic beauty, historical edifices and friendly people, the pattern of exercising suffrage also seems unique to Gambia.
Well, the modus operandi need not bother us if the outcome is sound. On that test, polls held with paper ballots or EVMs across many countries are disputed – rigging is an allegation usually raised by the losing party. Even the ‘greatest democracy’ experienced quite a churning when Trump accused Biden of ‘stealing’ the mandate.
In the ‘biggest democracy’, as India would like to identify itself, allegations of corruption follow many polls including the ones done through ‘foolproof’ EVMs. For that matter, in Gambia, too, the opposition is alleging a stage-managed election by the current President who, incidentally won the race garnering more than half the marbles.
Marble scores high from an environmental point of view – it’s natural, recyclable! No waste of paper; nor does it create e-waste! A quirky thought there – if the outcome is in any way disputable, why not a retro route to marbles that shall be something good for Mother Nature?!
Vish
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