What Percentage of the Planet's Democracies use Paper Ballots?

[Fly by night]

I am speaking before the Tennessee state legislature tomorrow (to promote voter-verified paper ballots and mandatory random manual recounts) and would like to share with them the proportion of democracies on the globe that still use paper ballots. I have seen the figure "90%" quoted here on DU several times but would like to confirm that (with a source) if possible.

I would also like to list prominent countries that still use paper ballots. I know that Canada and Germany do, but could use more countries to share with the legislature.

Finally, several months ago, TIA posted a state-by-state list of the proportions of different voting systems in place in each state. I have PMed TIA to ask for that reference, but if any of you know where to find that breakdown, please let me know.

[CottonBear]

1. The UK uses paper ballots.

Duers on the United Kingdom forum (see the States and Countries forums)can give you more information. You should be able to contact folks from Canada, Australia and various European countries in the other country forums regarding their voting practices.

[mopinko]

2. canada

all paper, hand counted. iirc

[TruthIsAll]

3. Here a a post/graph of state voting machine method

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=296774

[rigel99]

4. 95% per Lynn Landes Website

www.ecotalk.org

also a good article on other countries with specific reference to Europe using predominately paper ballots and having few challenges

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1103/p01s03-wogi.html

The simplest system - ballot papers counted by hand in the presence of the candidates or their representatives - appears also to be the least problematic: European countries are rarely troubled by challenges to election results.

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www.ecotalk.org
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What is the voting process? For 95% of all countries, voting is 3-step process in which paper ballots are marked, cast, and counted. On Election Day, citizens go to their local polling precinct where they privately mark their ballots behind a curtain, then publicly cast their ballot into a box. At the end of the day, all ballots are publicly counted, so that the public, the press, and poll watchers can observe that the count was accurate. It is a simple process designed to minimize the risk of vote fraud or system failure and is sometimes called the Australian Paper Ballot method.
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How do other countries vote? About 5% of the member states of the United Nations use voting machines. They are Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, India, half of The Netherlands and half of Belgium. There have been experimental efforts in several countries, but most seem to be rejecting the technology. There are concerns that the largely U.S.-funded World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could be used to pressure countries into buying voting machines. In the 2004 Afghan elections voters used paper ballots, but election officials did not allow a local hand count. Instead, ballots got carted off to eight central counting facilities. This effectively, eliminated local public oversight.

[marions ghost]

5. Ireland's story is interesting...

http://www.retrovsmetro.org/blog/id/347

How Ireland Ditched Black Box Voting
Dec 08, 2004
In March 2004, the Irish government set up a Commission on Electronic Voting to report on the secrecy and accuracy of the electronic voting system. The Commission subsequently issued a statement that, "the Commission finds that it is not in a position to recommend with the requisite degree of confidence the use of the chosen system at elections in Ireland in June 2004."

Consequently, the government halted the introduction of e-voting nationwide (even after spending millions on inadequate e-voting systems) after accepting the commission's recommendations, and the Irish people cast their votes on paper ballots in the June election. E-voting in Ireland has been postponed.

Margaret McGaley led this successful campaign to persuade Ireland that people---not computers---vote. Read her article describing how the Irish Citizens for Trustworthy Voting successfully exposed the vulnerabilities of black box voting and led an underdog effort to bring about positive change in the Irish government's policy.

[Fly by night]

6. Thanks. Ireland is a great model for backing away from BBV.

[FogerRox]

7. Lynns site has a page on Euro country's machines

IIRC Italy used DRE's with hardwired chips--no software--and gave them up---------Air AMewrica Radio IIRC