How is that the same?

The description of voting in the Netherlands is that you can see your ballot physically go into a clear box and stay to see that exact box be opened and all ballots tallied.

Dropping a ballot in a box in tour neighborhood helps ensure nothing with regards to the actually ballot count.

Here in NZ when I've been to vote, there are usually a couple of party affiliates at the voting location, doing what one of the parent posts described:

> You can stay there and wait for the count at the end of the day if you want to.

And if you watch the election night news, you'll see footage of multiple people counting the votes from the ballot boxes, again with various people observing to check that nothing dodgy is going on.

Having everyone just put their ballots in a postbox seems like a good way remove public trust from the electoral system, because noone's standing around waiting for the postie to collect the mail, or looking at what happens in the mail truck, or the rest of the mail distribution process.

I'm sure I've seen reports in the US of people burning postboxes around election time. Things like this give more excuses to treat election results as illegitimate, which I believe has been an issue over there.

(Yes, we do also have advanced voting in NZ, but I think they're considered "special votes" and are counted separately .. the elections are largely determined on the day by in-person votes, with the special votes being confirmed some days later)

In Sweden, mail/early votes get sent through the postal system to the official ballot box for those votes. In 2018, a local election had to be redone because the post delivered votes late. Mail delivery occasionally have packaged delayed or lost, and votes are note immune to this problem. In one case the post also gave the votes to an unauthorized person, through the votes did end up at the right place.

It is a small but distinct difference between mail/early voting and putting the votes directly into the ballot box.

One of these things is much easier to burn or otherwise tamper with.

yes there is. Check double envelope mail in voting mechanics.

That doesn't seem at all like the same thing as literally seeing the ballot enter the box in the presence of observers from all parties.

There's so much more you have to trust.

You can see electrons or what do you mean?

Voting systems require that there be no way to prove that you voted a certain way, otherwise it opens the market for vote-selling.

My county lets you look up if it was received. You can vote on Election Day in person if they don’t.

That's not true (as somebody who had to do this last year in 2024 because I was traveling in another country for work on election day)

Here is the form to register for postal voting in the Republic of Ireland - https://www.dublincity.ie/sites/default/files/2024-01/pv4-wo...

Instructions on how to submit the form / register for mail-in votes is on page 4.

Hope that helps anyone else out who needs in Ireland

I think that a lot of Ireland's voting practices come from having a small population but a huge diaspora. I imagine the percentage of people living outside Ireland what would be eligible to vote in many other countries is significant enough to effect elections, certainly if they are close.

As someone who spent the first 30 years of my life in Ireland but is now part of that diaspora, it's frustrating but I get it. I don't get to vote, but neither do thousands of plastic paddys who have very little genuine connection to Ireland.

That said, I'm sure they could expand the voting window to a couple of days at least without too much issue.

Anonymous voting means that you can't sell your vote. Like, if I pay you $5 to vote for X, but I can't actually verify that you voted for X and not Y, then I wouldn't bother trying. Or if I'm your boss and I want you to vote for X... etc.

Not really. Your ballot should be secret, which goes against blockchain, I guess.