How the US counts votes 

Follow the results of the 2020 presidential election on Vox: www.vox.com/2020

How to make everything more complicated for absolutely no reason.

Why is everything so confusing In America?

Seriously every vote counts. Here in Malaysia we had an unprecedented voter turnout rate in 2018 and managed to overthrow a government that has been in power for 60+ years.

In Germany we either vote in person on election day (which is always on a Sunday when people are off work) or by mail before the election. A few weeks in advance every German citizen who is allowed to vote will receive an election voting card along with a pre-paid stamped envelope. You just throw it into the mailbox or you bring it with you on election day. Job done.

Watching the current affairs of your country is like watching the fall of Rome in real time.

For once my country does stuff easier than America...

Its funny how Americans keep going on about "FREEDOM" and "DEMOCRACY" and it is not nearly as simple as other countries.

me: is not american, doesn’t live anywhere close to america also me: * watches every video I can find on the 2020 elections *

Me, an Australian: "I don't need to think about the US election so much, I don't even live there." Also me: *desperately clicks on Vox video explaining the intricate vote counting process for the US election*

they literally do this on purpose, the system DOESN’T need to be like this

Video : How the US counts votes Nevada : "We don't do that here"

"Democracy is a marathon, not a sprint."

Why don’t we just have the presidential candidates in an arena and they have to fight to the death.

"In politics, stupidity is not a handicap." -A useless spam bot

In my country, everyones votes on the same day (Sunday) on schools. Depending on where you live, you're assigned a nearby school and classroom you should vote in. You enter an empty classroom with all ballots, place one in an envelope, get out of the classroom and place the envelope in a box. Each classroom has a "board" of people that are randomly selected between all the population weeks before the election, and have to play the role of checking everyone's identifications, replacing ballots if they run out, and ensuring you enter your envelope on the box. Meanwhile, representatives of all parties check that everything is going well. At the end of the day, the "board" of people of each classroom take the box with all the votes into the room and count them visible to everyone there, including representatives of all or some of the parties. The board's president then writes the results of that room in a special envelope, and every other member has to sign it. Then, that is given to the authorities that are responsible of safely transport it and upload the data. You can check if your "classroom" is uploaded with all the national results, and it always is. Is that easy and transparent and it's very difficult to commit fraud. It really seems like the US makes it purposely difficult for people to vote.

They got NASA and top universities but still can't simplify their election. 😂😂😂

The US political system has to be rebuilt from the ground up. It made sense 200 years ago but times have changed...

Me : *Has no idea how voting in my non-USA country works* Also me : Hmm better find out how they do in America

In Bangladesh, we don't need to vote. Last time, the ruling party did that for us on day before election night. So, we know, who is going win 2/3 yrs earlier.

This is a good channel. I am thinking of creating a channel like this in Vietnam.

Explaining the theories of rocket science suddenly seem much more simplistic after watching this... 😨

Why wasn’t this released 2 months ago

Voting is 100% more effective than complaining on the internet

In France : you show up on election day (a sunday). You wait 5 minutes tops. You vote. They count the ballots at the end of the day. The end.

In Australia - the whole country does things in a unified way, we have to vote and the government goes out of its way to get votes from people - including sending out voting officials to hospitals, remote towns and indigenous settlements. There is around 10 different way to vote here, including voting in a completely different place to where you live (absentee voting).

As a European: that system seems soooo strange :D

I’ll be able to vote in 2024. So I’ll come back to this in 4 years

Honestly, this is the most I've ever learned about the US voting system.

Ma’am this is a Dunkin Donuts

*Nevada counting ballots like the sloth in Zootopia.*

They weren’t kidding when the said democracy is a marathon.

As a poll worker, the system you described about having "teams of two" isn't true for all counties.

honestly its seems so complicated i can kinda see why so many people don't vote.... but regardless it's still important!!!

Americans: Having Presidential Election World: This seems a nice show to binge and judge their IQ level based on who they vote.

I appreciate how Vox makes things that are oftentimes confusing, boring, and complex, into topics that are entertaining, simple, and informative

Everybody thinks this is so complicated but it’s really not. It is not needlessly complex because every little step is to ensure that the result is not compromised. Idk if it’s perfect but simplifying it is not the way to go.

I never thought there would ever be voter suppression in the “freest” nation on earth

they should get those chuck e cheese ticket eaters and do it that way.

Looks complicated 🇺🇲. In my country, everybody votes as responsible citizens 🇰🇵🇷🇺💪

You forgot to mention the part where they wheel in ballots at 4 in the morning all marked for one candidate.

Last time i'm this early, Hillary was on the lead

Well it was good while it lasted. America's crumbling like the Roman Empire.

In Switzerland, we vote about five times a year on a national level, and the majority of people mail in their ballot. Of course, there's a lot of logistics involved, but it hasn't been a problem for 200 years. Why does it have to be this complicated in the US?

Incredible how it’s one nation but so fragmented in rules, policies and procedures

Who wants to give me a speaker so that I can blast “It’s The End of The World As We Know It” from my window tonight?

what if the mailed vote is rejected because of something "trivial" like the signature? Do you get it back? I dont think they are going to wait for it to return? Guess it gets tossed?

Great video. It's good to know the details of how the votes get counted. Had to search for awhile for something that explained all that.

As a non-American, let me tell you guys: it is _not_ normal to wait in line to cast your ballot, especially since you vote on a weekday that's not even a national holiday. So the fact that hundreds of polling locations were closed instead of new ones opened should outrage you.

Answer: after the elections over

Yo why they just don't use the popular vote like 🔵 - 60mill votes 🔴 - 50mil votes 🔵 Wins

This content is good and needed. Thanks for keeping us informed Vox!

This is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you for the explanation!!!!!!

That guy's groan when CNN recalled Florida sounded like a Dwight Howard press conference.

"Deep quote" --Deep person

This was a MUCH Needed video. 🤯🤯🤯

Please make a follow-up video on how Nevada counts votes.

This definitely looks messy! Believe me, for a country of billion people with inequalities in every sphere of life, India does a marvel in conducting election. Immense respect for the Constitutional national body conducting it.

Following the American elections have made me realise how much better we do elections here in Australia. The Australian Electoral Commission is fully independent and those working on election days have no affiliation with any parties. And in Australia every effort is made to make it easier for people to register and vote.. Australian Parliament electorates on average have around 115,000 electors and on average election electorate has around 20 polling locations. And all votes are counted on the night and political parties can send scrutineers to watch the count.

“Mam. This is Dunkin’ Donuts.” Lol

Was looking for this video yesterday

"Ma'am this is a Dunkin Donuts" Well played, Vox.

VOTE! Trump said he will try to stop the election when he’s ahead so it doesnt get “overturned”

In Australia to apply for a postal vote it's as simple as going to the government website, putting in your name the street you live on, verifying they have the right info, then clicking apply.

Vox making even more complicated to understand the process !

I hope this election is amusing for everyone not in America.

Why can’t they just make it like the Oregon system? You can go at 3am if you want and put your ballot in a box!

Very good way of explanation and description

I like the way she explained that. Definitely put my mind at ease.

Getting rid of the electoral college would make things more transparent.

Thanks for the interesting video ☺️

Very cool to see Columbus, OH making it in a Vox video!

Thanks for a good presentation. US voting is very complex system but efficent.

Everyone: OMG SO CONFUSING Me: Doggo!

I have not slept, its 6 AM, and this election is going to be interesting, very interesting.

500 people disliked this artistic animation/editing/narration/informative masterpiece for some reason!

2:00 -- Madison, WI's "Paper" Ballots aren't usually handed to a person after you're done voting, hasn't been like that for quite a while. It's instead put into a counter machine. Your name is instead "crossed off" as soon as you're handed your paper ballot the moment you get it. By "crossed off" I mean, there's a number on each ballot, and that number is placed next to your name in the list of voters.

Use me as a “I was confused, and now Vox has made me more confused” button.

In India,we vote for a particular amount of time,the process goes for 6 days and the largest democracy votes for that amount of time.On the result day,the results are announced within a day unlike USA.

Vox really make great videos.

Fun fact: most people replying to this video are people complaining about how they don't understand american voting systems or how their not from the U.S.

Bruh, compering population, indian election system is far better than this

Well done. This work was worth the time doing. Thanks to you guys now we know why and how votes are operated.

Love your video so much! Wonder how to make them ?! Like what program?! I really want to learn

Ah yes, let’s make it complicated so Americans won’t understand and are just blindly like oh yeah, this is democracy, amazing

*"secure box"*

How timely! I'm not American so i was so confused about the whole thing. Pretty straighforward in my country, highest votes = presidency.. Thanks for posting this!

In the UK, elections always take place on Thursdays, polling stations close at 10pm and the new Prime Minister assumes office by 12 noon Friday (the next day).

In Germany, no polling station has more then 2500 voters. Polling stations are open from 8 to 18. Afterwards, counting begins, which ends after a few hours. Everything is counted by hand, without any machines.

After this video I studied quantum physics and I understood everything

How Denark counts votes is way better in my opinion. Here's an overview: - Every danish citizen has the equivalent of a social security number, issued at birth or on obtaining citizenship. This means every eligible voter is identifiable. - The government sends every eligible voter a physical voting card in the mail, which tells you where to go to vote. (99% of the time determined by the district your address is registered) - Here's the important part. Once there, you have to trade in your voting card, and verify your identity by telling them your birthday. (Or picture ID if doubt arises) Once recieved, your name will be crossed off in the list of eligible voters. This makes it impossible for you to vote twice. Nor can you vote in another district, as your name is not present in the books. Only after you trade in this voting card, will you recieve an anonymous ballot, which you then fill out and cast in a locked box. This maintains the secrecy of the vote, as not even the officials will know who you voted for. And once your vote has been cast, the ballot cannot be tracked back to you. All that can be tracked is whether you, or someone claiming to be you, has voted or not. There's no information on who you voted for. When the votes have to be tallied, you can verify that no fraud has occurred by counting the number of voting cards recieved, versus the number of ballots cast. You can even do better than this. Since all ballots are issued on voting day, you can count how many ballots there are in the morning before any votes are cast, and at night once the election is over. Any notable voter fraud would immediately cause a descrepancy between any of these numbers. Oh, and did I mention *every* vote is hand counted? Yeah, we do things like that. And we have like 15 parties here, not just 2. *Technical footnotes* : 1. When a voter card is recieved, it will be counted and numbered. This number will also be written next to the voter's name, so that if any errors occur, like crossing out the wrong person, they can be corrected by consulting the voter card. 2. It's still possible to vote if you forget your voting card, you simply get issued a new one, but there's stricter procedures when it comes to verifying your identity. 3. I think you can technically vote in another district than you're assigned, but I am not 100% certain how that works, since I never worked as an official overseer, only a volunteer during the elections. My guess is they have to contact the district you're assigned to, and make sure you're removed from the eligible voter list, before they can issue a new voter card.

In Turkey, even if there are multiple state & party officials during the counting, people are encouraged to watch the entire process until election board finally upload the numbers into the system. So, I am really incapable of understanding how people could trust mail-in ballots counted accurately in smaller partisan counties.

Here's a tip, set the video to 1.25x speed. Otherwise, the video is perfect!

Nov 3, 2020- The Day America cancels The Apprentice: Swamp Edition. Sorry Don but you’re fired.

I checked over and over on the Franklin county site as well. Hope you got to step four at some point.

A supreme court ruling in 2013 lead to poling stations being closed. Over 1000 had closed already prior to 2019.

Its like north korea where the only canadate that can vote is kim jong un

"The way Americans choose their president is complicated." Well, I think that pretty sums it up! Cheers & Mabuhay, from tropical Philippines!

I've worked for 2 elections in Canada. Provincially, they were auto-counted on site with paper backups. Federally, I counted by hand as a DRO. That's it. They were counted.

The system seems fair with both parties needing to approve the candidate before they vote to prevent voter fraud. It is needlessly complex when simple pencil and paper system like UK and other countries are so much more efficient and hand counting is a lot better than trusting machines.