Exercising the right to vote

Today is Election Day here in Switzerland.  It is also the first opportunity that I have ever had to vote here.  Granted that right is limited to the local level and only to the elections for those officials who govern the place where I live.  But still, as a foreign national  living here legally for the prescribed number of years, I have a right to vote in these local elections.  I do not believe that Green Card holders have an equivalent right to vote in the US.

I received a package of voting materials earlier, as described here.  I did some research on the candidates and ultimately was able to enumerate candidates of my choice.  I can only hope that I have chosen well - as we all do after we have voted.

The process has been a little more confusing that it should have been, or at least it was for me.  When I went to the polling station (local de vote) this morning around 10 am, I was surprised to see no one in attendance.  There was merely a little slot labelled "Votations" into which I should slip the envelope containing my duly marked ballots.  But that presented a logistical problem.  I had received a separate voting card, where I was supposed to provide my full date of birth and then sign.  I had also been instructed not to put the voting card in the voting envelope, which made sense in a secret ballot situation.  But, if there was no one there to check me, how could they know that my ballot was indeed accompanied by the voting card?

I was presented with a dilemma.  Fortunately, right then, a gentleman walked in and slid his own voting envelope into the slot.  So I greeted him, and asked what I should do.  He asked me whether I had kept the envelope in which I had received my voting materials.  I said that I hadn't.  He shook his head.  I could literally see the thought, "Oh, these foreigners!" running through his head.  He explained that the proper procedure is to seal the envelope containing the ballots, sign the voting card, put everything back into the original envelope, and then submit the package together.  Failing that, I could either a) get a different envelope and put everything into it or b) return at 11 am when the polling station would have officials in attendance.

As he explained this to me, two other persons came in and seemed as surprised as I that there were no officials present.  Neither one had his original envelope with him.  Both were as stumped as I, which lessened my own embarrassment somewhat.  So the gentleman who knew what should be done explained it all again.  We each elected to get a different envelope so that we could get on with our day rather than waiting until 11 am.

Switzerland was the last Western republic to grant women the right to vote.  Although women in some cantons received the right to vote after 1959, women here did not universally have that right until 1971.   I personally prize that right and am happy to have exercised that right today both as a woman - and as a foreign national.