ListNook

Crow_away_cawcaw Apr 24, 2026 +285

Did anyone listen to that radiolab episode “One Vote” about a decade ago? Basically about the lengths the Indian electoral system goes through to ensure every voter can access a voting station, including election workers having to trek for days through the jungle in order to allow one single priest to cast their ballot. I’ve always respected Indian democracy - it’s so impressive to me that a country of more than a billion people goes to such lengths for voters.

285

opzoro Apr 24, 2026 +30

think there is a thing similar to jury duty, where if you work in any govt or govt funded job you are recruited to help in the electoral process. Includes colleges, banks etc.

30

PixelsOfTheEast Apr 24, 2026 +19

Yeah. My mom was a school teacher but had to be a booth officer, etc during elections.

19

WhiteNightStalker Apr 24, 2026

Interestingly even private school teachers are considered government employees. It’s weird

0

PixelsOfTheEast Apr 24, 2026 +3

Depends on the state. In Maharashtra, if the school is government aided, they're considered government employees. They have to participate in vaccination drives, census, elections, etc. In return they're paid a government salary (which is substantially better than most private schools offer since it is linked to inflation and years od service) and get a pension. However, they're largely exempt from transfers when they're 'surplus' employees. Government aid has to be maintained though every year by ensuring a certain % of total students (I think 80%?) clear board exams.

3

MostView8191 Apr 24, 2026 +30

I did!!

30

SideEye2X Apr 24, 2026 +32

Never looked at it this way.

32

dragon_idli Apr 24, 2026 +34

It's crazy how well the elections happen in India. There are instances of issues but overall its a massive effort. I saw that video too. Needs pretty dedicated electoral workers i guess.

34

Latter-Bar3359 Apr 24, 2026 +4

All that effort yet so much corruption exists :(

4

bhumit012 Apr 24, 2026 +1

But man is it expensive

1

lemonsqueezy-2 Apr 24, 2026 -4

Well don't forget the hard work of the people who undergo the hardships to illegally cross border to caste thier votes.

-4

Crow_away_cawcaw Apr 25, 2026 +2

Yep it’s important to take every Listnook comment saying something positive, and reply with our own little cynical dig, that way people don’t accidentally feel good or appreciative about something for more than 30 seconds, thanks

2

Right-News-3444 Apr 25, 2026

And you know what, that individual has his right NOT TO VOTE. Such incidents happened where the officials were waiting at dedicated polling station for just one or few and they didn’t turn out 😆

0

Upset-Marsupial2753 Apr 23, 2026 +173

Democracy for the win. Does help that election day is a holiday

173

Lwolf-Att-1947 Apr 24, 2026 +43

Actually the HR suggested to take 2 hr permission to go vote and rejoin. 🥲

43

Zontromm Apr 24, 2026 +22

as of what I know from Indians, that is semi-illegal to do. Depends on the state. Election day is a "forced" holiday.

22

Snoo-22191 Apr 24, 2026 +12

Everywhere I've ever worked, it has been a holiday. I suspect with jobs like gig workers and maybe manufacturing jobs its more of a grey area. Whether the full day is off or not depends on the industry and jurisdiction but it is highly illegal to not allow ANY time off to vote.

12

[deleted] Apr 24, 2026 +10

[deleted]

10

Head_Samosa Apr 24, 2026 +30

It is a holiday but maybe this person's HR is a typical HR.

30

FlyingRaccoon_420 Apr 24, 2026 +11

My company was pretty strict during the recent elections in my state. I was told to go vote and put everything else on hold until I was back.

11

Lwolf-Att-1947 Apr 24, 2026 +9

It isn't a holiday per se. Most companies allow a time off to cast the vote and return to work.

9

kadala-putt Apr 24, 2026 +4

This is a private company/corporate issue. Government employees get the day off, and private companies are only mandated to facilitate voting by their employees. Corporate and retail companies do what you said, but more traditional firms, schools, banks etc. treat it as a holiday.

4

Splinterfight Apr 24, 2026 +5

Crazy that’s not every country

5

ccoastie Apr 24, 2026 +8

In Australia we vote on a Saturday. Most schools are used for voting and they raise money selling drinks and food (democracy sausage is a big thing )

8

aitchnyu Apr 24, 2026

Government and private schools in India participate even on weekdays.

0

AdSuperb5755 Apr 24, 2026 +28

That is quite amazing honestly

28

Bleakwind Apr 24, 2026 +17

the poll workers are going to be tired... its great to see though.

17

gao7on Apr 24, 2026 +28

Like the population size of Henan and Sichuan provinces in China.

28

interestingpanzer Apr 24, 2026 +16

Henan and Shandong* Sichuan without Chongqing is actually around 80 million ~ Funny now that I think of it, swapping the most socially liberal for the most socially conservative province haha

16

PurpleSailor Apr 24, 2026 +5

Double plus 11 million of California's population and just under a fourth of California's size. That's some tight living.

5

jasonmdrummer Apr 24, 2026 +7

Imagine if the US had 92% turnout.

7

fuckmbsanddominicali Apr 24, 2026 +4

Didn't like 1/3 of your people not vote last time? Y tho?

4

Sworn Apr 24, 2026 +3

USA doesn't vote on a day off for some reason, so for a lot of people it's a hassle to vote. There's also the fact that votes only actually matter in what, a quarter of the states that aren't "guaranteed" to be either blue or red or doesn't do w*****-takes all. I mean, a single vote doesn't change much but voting in e.g. California is mostly a waste of time in practice, it'll "always" be blue. Personally I'm surprised USA has a decent voter turnout at all.

3

FischiPiSti Apr 24, 2026 +9

"Mediocre. If you can't go past 100% you are doing it wrong." \~Putin, probably

9

Thin-Theory-4805 Apr 24, 2026 +15

Truly the best.

15

grumpoholic Apr 24, 2026 +6

This is kind of crazy honestly, didn't expect that.

6

prONoOB1004 Apr 24, 2026 +2

EC magic

2

Undoubtably_me Apr 24, 2026 +8

There are multiple angles to this, one main thing is that newly implemented SIR, it removed lot of duplicate voters (who had vites in multiple constituencies, due to relocation etc.), but it also removed a good number of people who didn't participate in past couple of yearsor properly enrol for this, also some discrepancies were raised. So this caused for total number of voters to reduce, the remaining ones are mostly regular voters, hence increasing the percentage.

8

colefunction Apr 25, 2026

This should be higher up

0

m15otw Apr 25, 2026

Yes, and removed a bunch of people that weren't the right religion who had to appeal being removed, too.

0

[deleted] Apr 24, 2026 -50

[deleted]

-50

almodsz Apr 24, 2026 +45

Yeah, that's what the title says.

45

North-Seat5948 Apr 24, 2026 +25

Read the username.

25

bosorero Apr 24, 2026 +11

It checks out

11

dragon_idli Apr 24, 2026 +12

Lol. The username and the comment go hand in hand

12

Wonderful_Beard552 Apr 25, 2026 +1

What was the username?

1

infinitum3d Apr 24, 2026 -17

But did they all have valid IDs? Edit: as an American this was actually meant sarcastically. I’m sorry that didn’t come through.

-17

Achilles_187 Apr 24, 2026 +15

You can't vote without valid ID in India

15

wo_kya_hobe Apr 24, 2026 +6

every single one had a valid photo id(which is soon to be linked with biometric id)

6

SevereStandard4132 Apr 24, 2026 +1

Already linked with

1

A 92% voter turnout in an Indian state election with a population exceeding 100 million.

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