Voted and noted!

SO much for data protection, privacy and technology advances in Malta. I am referring to our mediocre voting procedure.

I am convinced that the vote-casting system itself is designed to reveal how you vote. Entering the polling station, having your identity declared to all, card inspected and all, you are then provided with the choice to vote in the wide box-like booth which is also seemingly designed to ensure that whatever your vote is, it is clearly known and noted by the assistant electoral commissioners behind you, who while you vote, are scrutinising your every movement and the way you mark your ballot paper, moving it up and down.

The eerie feeling gives one the urge to look behind one's shoulder, as I in fact did, and there they were, staring at me nevertheless. It is obvious that, for instance, in the longer-than-usual ballot paper of this EU Parliamentary election, should one vote in a particular place of the ballot paper it would automatically mean that that person is voting for Party X.

As if that is not invasive enough, trying to rightfully protect your privacy by meticulously folding the paper in several angles and upon slipping it into the slot, you are immediately told by the six persons staring at you, that the stamps must be visible to them. Obviously you have to promptly abide, embarrassingly reopening the ballot paper in such a way so that the stamp is visible.

Not only that, mind you. Can anyone explain why one is to vote with a pencil that resembles a childish crayon? Can the public be told why such a poor quality see-through ballot paper is used? Folding it in any numbers of folds, one can still see the crayon/pencil-induced marking, filter through the paper, exposing your vote.

Mentioning data protection, I am pretty sure I did not authorise any political party to analyse my voting-related movements. So how is it that many people receive mailing and even telephone calls, informing them that they had not yet collected their voting document, or that one did not yet vote, and other embarrassing private questions? Is that how serious we are at organising a professional national election?

Why is one allowed to make a voter feel intimidated by prying eyes when expressing the right to vote freely? I've seen people in third world countries voting in a booth that, at least, had an opaque curtain guarding their voting privacy.