Wolfgang, it was only after I hit Submit that the earlier title occurred consciously to me. I was appalled at my use of it. I'm glad you did open it anyway.

I like your voting system as you recount it. However, if no vote by mail is accepted after closing time, how is it handled when citizens are out of state or abroad on election day? How early can they vote?

Here we have to request an official absentee ballot before we can vote. And the absentee ballot cannot be mailed before a certain date; the voter then fills it out, gets it notarized or witnessed by two people 18 or older, and mails it back no later than Election Day.Bardford, with that many candidates do the people do their homework? Does a fine for not voting create a more informed and politically involved populace?Bardford, do you as a voter need to be registered as a partisan for the party for which you vote? Or can you vote for any party?Bob Bolton, please do post it. I would imagine Australia has different time zones- does that complicate matters?Guest/Brian, I think different time zones do complicate the process for us, but it would seem like we could come up with a better way to deal with it. As for a unified system encompassing all of Europe and the complications that would cause (And that day may actually come!, I think that the US has a good many of those problems.Sophocleese, believe it or not, it's not as bad as it used to be. In the past the east coast media have projected the winner at 3 o'clock on the west coast! I remember getting off work at 4:30, and going to vote knowing full well that my vote had no effect. In recent years, they have agreed not to do that until much later although they do broadcast exit polls.

As for secret ballots, we have a pretty good system there, I think. It is rigorously outlined and the exceptions are clearly stated. In one exception, we allow representative voting where a rep can go to a home-bound voter's home and help the voter fill out the ballot according to the voter's commands. The rep agrees in a legal form to follow guidelines to the letter.

Another exception is absentee by fax voting. Each voter is told that they are waiving their right to a secret ballot. However, the voted ballot goes directly to just one person who faxes the forms to the voter and receives all the incoming ballots. In our system, the 'secret' voting your mother was subjected to would be grounds for legal action.

Thanks for your responses, despite the unfortunate title, and keep 'em coming!

Ebbie