Thread by @ThePublicSquare

Americans may be used to knowing the results of a presidential race by bedtime on Election Day, but that’s not the norm in many nations.

Author @sandipr explains how India’s election “schedule” works—and what America can learn from it on this day:

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In India, there is no such thing as Election Day. “Democracy, unlike candy, does not come out of a vending machine delivering instant gratification,” Roy contends.

It took 11 million election officials over a month to conduct the 7 phases of India’s 2019 general election.

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The stages allow security and electoral officials to follow the election around the country as different regions vote. Even when it takes a week for the winner to be announced after the last polling day, Roy writes, Indian voters don’t lose faith in the value of their vote.

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Indian law requires that voters—all 911 million of them—have a polling place accessible within 2 km of their homes, Roy explains. In the Gir forest of Gujarat, that means erecting a polling station for one: a remote temple’s caretaker.

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Roy interviewed anthropologist @MukulikaB, who sees election season as the one moment when Indians experience real equality. By voting, she said, “I prove that I exist even if nothing in government policy seems to remember that people like me exist.”

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The anticipated longer pace of the 2020 election “might feel unprecedented to many Americans,” Roy speculates. “But what is truly unprecedented here is that Americans are being actively encouraged to lose faith in their own democratic process by their own elected officials.”

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So, despite how uncomfortable and unfamiliar this November may feel, @sandipr urges Americans to keep the faith and learn from the experiences of nations like India—and accept that “democracy delayed is not democracy denied.”

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