Voting is much more direct in France. It is a 2-turn popular vote with paper ballots, checked against voter ID, with signature on a paper register after casting the ballot. This means there's no in-between like an electoral college with a special meeting to hand the votes, and the ballots are handled very swiftly, under scrutiny, with no room for "shipments" of ballots appearing out of nowhere. AFAIK we don't have a mail-in voting system, except for French nationals in foreign countries.

At worst we have a delegation system making a single person able to cast two votes, one for the voter and one for an absentee. This system is also under heavy scrutiny, needing a request to the local "Mairie" for a delegation, and only the designated person by the absentee can vote for the absentee. That usually means a breach of the vote secrecy from the absentee's perspective, and it involves trust the designated person will vote according to the wish of the absentee.

At 7 PM sharp on election day (local hour) the results were announced.

This is why she conceded: we kinda trust our election system, even if it's imperfect. Since Frenchmen at large (not me) don't have this value of being part of the "checks and balances" on government with no equivalent of the 2A to speak of, voting is our only outlet to effect change. Our representatives don't fear the people, and the people has no issue with not threatening those in power. Violence is pure, unadulterated evil, mkay? Such a great principle... in a utopia. People are basically pacified.

I fear the day a revelation happens in which the people are proven bluntly that their votes never mattered, but I'll gladly welcome it, for I'd rather be told the bitter truth than go on living a honeyed lie.

Voting is much more direct in France. It is a 2-turn popular vote with paper ballots, checked against voter ID, with signature on a paper register after casting the ballot. This means there's no in-between like an electoral college with a special meeting to hand the votes, and the ballots are handled very swiftly, under scrutiny, with no room for "shipments" of ballots appearing out of nowhere. AFAIK we don't have a mail-in voting system, except for French nationals in foreign countries.

At worst we have a delegation system making a single person able to cast two votes, one for the voter and one for an absentee. This system is also under heavy scrutiny, needing a request to the local "Mairie" for a delegation, and only the designated person by the absentee can vote for the absentee. That usually means a breach of the vote secrecy from the absentee's perspective, and it involves trust the designated person will vote according to the wish of the absentee.

At 7 PM sharp on election day (local hour) the results were announced.

This is why she conceded: we kinda trust our election system, even if it's imperfect. Since Frenchmen at large (not me) don't have this value of being part of the "checks and balances" on government with no equivalent of the 2A to speak of, voting is our only outlet to effect change. Our representatives don't fear the people, and the people has no issue with not threatening those in power. Violence is pure, unadulterated evil, mkay? Such a great principle... in a utopia.

I fear the day a revelation happens in which the people are proven bluntly that their votes never mattered, but I'll gladly welcome it, for I'd rather be told the bitter truth than go on living a honeyed lie.