Practicing Ballot Secrecy: Postal Voting and the Witness Requirement at the 2019 Finnish Elections

Electoral rights belong to the core of citizenship in democratic nation-states. Voting, then, represents an actualization of the relationship between the citizen and the political community. For citizens living outside the country in which they are eligible to vote, voting signifies a rare institutional connection to the country of origin. The aim of this article is to explore the introduction of the postal vote, a new form of voting for external voters at Finnish elections, from the grassroots perspective. The study focuses on how a central policy concern, safeguarding ballot secrecy, was resolved in the policy implementation by the witness requirement, and how the individual voters subsequently applied it. According to the voters’ accounts of the act of voting, the adopted method for underlining the importance of ballot secrecy in the Finnish overseas postal voting system, for many voters, makes little sense. While they effectively practice ballot secrecy, many fail to demonstrate this to the witnesses they were supposed to convince. Conversely, for these voters, the witness requirement merely works to break the secondary secrecy of elections, namely the secrecy of their participation itself. The empirical material for the article comprises policy documents and thematic text material (interviews, written responses) from 31 Finnish citizens living outside Finland. The article contributes to the scholarly debates on voting as a social, institutional and material practice. It further provides policy-relevant knowledge about grassroots implementation to various electoral administrations many of which, at the time of writing, face pressure to reform their repertoire of voting methods to function better in exceptional circumstances, such as a pandemic.

Reformulando la protección de las personas con diversidad funcional a la luz de la distante Convención de Nueva York de 2006

LABURPENA: 2006ko Nazio Batuen New Yorkeko Hitzarmena Desgaitasuna duten pertsonen eskubideei buruzkoa da, eta horren 12. artikuluan zehaztuta dago funtzionalki anitzak diren pertsonen babesa pertsonalizatua izan behar dela, eta maila gorenean errespetatu behar dela beren autonomia esparrua. Hitzarmenak Espainiako ordenamendu juridikoan eragina izan du, eta hori nabaria da besteak beste azken hamarkadan Auzitegi Gorenak eman dituen epaietan eta doktrinaren zati handi batean baita ere. Tutoretza guztiz gaitzesten da eta kuradoretzaren alde egiten da, aniztasun funtzionala duten pertsonei zuzendutako figura babesle malguagoa eta moldakorragoa delako. Hori guztia gizarte alorreko politika publikoetan inbertsioa falta den testuinguru batean, hori modu zuzenean kudeatzeko erakundeen arteko konexioa falta den esparruan, eta agintaritza judizialak neurrira egindako babesa ezartzeko nazioarteko testuek ezartzen dituzten bermeekin tresna prozesalak falta diren testuinguruan baita ere. RESUMEN: El artículo 12 de la Convención de Naciones Unidas de Nueva York de 2006, sobre los Derechos de las Personas con Discapacidad, exige que la protección de la persona funcionalmente diversa sea personalizada y respete, al máximo, su ámbito de autonomía. El impacto de la Convención en el ordenamiento jurídico español se percibe, tanto en las sentencias del Tribunal Supremo de la última década como en buena parte de la Doctrina. Se demoniza, de forma desmedida, la figura de la tutela, para abogar por la curatela, como figura tuitiva más flexible y adaptable a las necesidades de la persona con diversidad funcional; en un contexto en que falta inversión en políticas públicas de corte social, conexión inter-institucional para gestionarla de forma adecuada e instrumentos procesales para que la autoridad judicial establezca la protección a medida con las garantías que los textos internacionales imponen. ABSTRACT: Art. 12 of the United Nations Convention of New York from 2006 on the Rights of persons with disabilities calls for the protection of the functionally different person to be personalized and to respect to the maximum extent his/her sphere of autonomy. The impact of the Convention within the Spanish legal order is noticed both by the last decade Supreme court judgments and by a good part of the doctrine. The institution of the custody is demonized disproportionately in order to advocate for partial guardianship as a more flexible institution of protection that adapts to the needs of the functionally different person; in a context where public investment in the social sector, inter-institutional connection to manage it in an appropriate manner and procedural tools in the hands of the judicial authority to grant a customised protection in conformity with the international texts are wanting.

Crisis of Representation in Chile? The Institutional Connection

This article analyzes the challenges to democratic representation in contemporary Chile, with an institutional focus. I argue that the post-authoritarian model of politics was deeply constrained by institutions and practices inherited by democratic authorities and reinforced by the model of transitional politics and its series of informal institutions, which first facilitated, but then hindered democratic performance. While this does not point to a regime-threatening crisis, there are deep challenges to representation and a desire for a different model of politics that is more capable of resolving conflicts and satisfying citizen demands. I posit that, until now, Chile's formal and informal institutions have privileged stability over representation, accountability, and legitimacy. Consequently, it has fallen to social movements to set the agenda for change aimed at addressing Chile's deeper problems of political and social inequality. I argue that institutional reforms are a necessary, yet insufficient, antidote to current challenges of representation.

Bound But Not Gagged

This article examines general patterns of the politics of media reform in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Taiwan, all societies transitioning to democracy. Although the media are becoming more free and independent in each, there remain significant political constraints on journalism in all four countries. Using arguments from organizational analysis, the author contends that the persistence of institutional connection between the media and the government, state, and political parties has left the media in a politically dependent position. This dependence is manipulated by politicians across the political spectrum in an effort to sustain electoral success and political authority. The prevalence of this pattern in Taiwan indicates that the so-called Leninist legacy is not always the primary inhibitor of greater liberalization. The difficulties in all four countries indicate, the author contends, that rebuilding old institutions differs from creating brand new democratic ones.