Hi there,
I hope you are doing as well as we do. We just had an enormous blast of early snow, a foot or so in the lowlands. Behind the house, the kids are sledding like crazy, constantly chaperoned by worried housewives and their spouses (when I was young, fathers and mothers made sure not to show up on that hill – they knew how to protect the offspring from merciless teasing).
We just went to vote. Barely made it to the polling station in the old schoolhouse, arriving at 10:55 a.m. The station is only open on Sunday between and 10 and 11 in the morning (after church, before lunch), as most everybody mails their ballots in or drops them in the slot at the town administration. As usual, we were the only ones at the station. Two young men manned the two urns where you drop your registration card, have drop your ballot after having it stamped. No one asked for ID. No “booths” where you fill out your form. No partisan “observers” looking over the shoulders of the citizens which were summoned to serve and already busy sorting and counting. No drama.
So much for our late voting. By the way, no sweat, no drama, and no controversy about early voting either. About a month before the vote, you get your ballot, your registration card, an booklet with the necessary information (government writing the facts, pro and con getting space for their points) and a return envelope. Early voters must use that particular envelope. If they don’t the ballot is invalid. Also, it is clear that ballots which do not arrive in time will simply not be counted. No “date of the postage stamp” stuff here – if your letter is late, it is discarded. As simple as that.
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By the way, there is no fuss about “registration” either. As individuals living in Switzerland, we are held to tell the government where we live. We “register” with the town in a one-stop-move for everything: taxes, social services, sundry fees, and also voting. This is why you get your registration automatically with the above-mentioned package. No problem, unless you opt for an undocumented existence which is certainly as hard as it is unsavory, but not totally impossible.
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We vote four times a year, on issues at the federal, cantonal (State) and communal level. This time it was about four. One, the widening of highways, two, a simplification of the cost-sharing between health insurances and Cantons for hospitalizations and elderly care, three, more power for landlords who claim their properties for own use and four, less leeway for renters who sublet their places.
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I usually lose, but this time I hope for a draw between the yeses and the nos. It’s a good thing that the vote is secret.