Can you vote for two candidates on EVM

Use a clear space, such as a large table, for sorting and counting ballot papers. Open the ballot box and empty it of all ballot papers. If the ballot box contains a mix of ballot papers for different elections, they will need to be separated first as each will have its own counting process.

Table of Contents Show

Preferential
First count
Second count
Third count

Unfold and check that each ballot is 'formal' i.e. it can be counted. As a general rule a vote is formal when:

The voter has followed the instructions on the ballot paper and the intention of their vote is clear
There is no identifying mark on the ballot paper that means the vote is not secret.

Count the total number of ballot papers and the number of formal and informal (votes that cannot be counted) votes. Record these on the Tally sheet – first-past-the-post. Put any informal votes to one side as they are no longer involved in the count.

Place a name card for each candidate on the table to assist with the count. Record the name of each candidate on the Tally sheet.

Counting

Sort the formal ballot papers into piles according to which candidate was chosen by each voter. Count the number of votes each candidate received and record this on the Tally sheet.

The candidate with the highest number of votes is elected.

If you have a tied result, decide the outcome in one of the following ways:

Run the election again
Students can share the position being elected
Place the names in a hat and draw at random
Ask a suitable person to have a casting vote.

Preferential

Setting up

Unfold and check that each ballot is 'formal' i.e. it can be counted. As a general rule a vote is formal when:

The voter has followed the instructions on the ballot paper and the intention of their vote is clear
There is no identifying mark on the ballot paper that means the vote is not secret.

Count the total number of ballot papers and the number of formal and informal (votes that cannot be counted) votes. Record these on the Tally sheet – preferential. Put any informal votes to one side as they are no longer involved in the count.

Place a name card for each candidate on the table to assist with the count. Record the name of each candidate on the Tally sheet.

Counting

First, sort all the formal ballot papers in candidate piles according to the voter's first preference (the number 1). Then, count the number of first preference votes for each candidate and record these totals in the 1st count column of the Tally sheet.

To be elected using the preferential voting system, a candidate must receive more than half of the votes (an absolute majority). If there are 100 votes, then to be elected a candidate must receive 51 votes – more than 50% of the votes.

The next step of the counting process is to take the candidate with the fewest votes out of the count (exclude) and re-examine those votes. If two candidates have equal lowest votes, exclude the candidate who had the lowest number of votes in the previous count.

The second choice (candidate with the number 2) is identified on each ballot and the vote is transferred to the second choice candidate.

Once all votes for the excluded candidate are redistributed to remaining candidates, record these additional votes in the transferred vote column of the Tally sheet. Now add these two columns to arrive at the 2nd count total.

If there still isn't an absolute majority for any candidate, repeat this exclusion process. The candidate with the fewest votes at this point is excluded and the votes for this candidate are redistributed to the voter's next choice candidate. This can be indicated by a number 2 or the number 3 depending on which candidates remain in the count.

This exclusion and re-distribution continues until a candidate has achieved the absolute majority i.e. more than 50% of all votes cast.

If you have a tied result, refer back to the candidates' first preference votes. The candidate who had the most first preference votes is elected. If the result is still tied (the final two candidates both had an equal number of first preferences), determine the outcome in one of the following ways:

Run the election again
Students can share the position being elected
Place the names in a hat and draw at random
Ask a suitable person to have a casting vote

An example

Four candidates, Bill, Jane, Charlie and Mary stand for election. After the election, the ballot papers are counted and there are 60 formal votes. Therefore the absolute majority needed to win the seat is 31 (more than 50%).

First count

Nobody has gained an absolute majority so the person with the lowest number of votes is excluded (Bill with 10 votes). Bill's votes are then distributed according to the 2nd preferences marked on those ballot papers.

Second count

Still nobody has gained the absolute majority so again the candidate with the lowest number of votes is excluded.

There are two candidates with equal least votes – Mary and Jane each with 19. In this situation the candidate who had the lowest number of votes in the first count is excluded (Jane) and those votes are distributed.

Third count

Now that Mary has 31 votes, she has an absolute majority and is elected.

You may notice that Mary was not the candidate who had the 'most' votes in the first count. This highlights the difference between preferential counting and first-past-the-post.

An electronic voting machine (EVM) is a portable instrument for the purpose of conducting elections to the parliament, legislature and local bodies like panchayats and municipalities.

EVM is a microcontroller-based instrument designed to modernise the election procedure and there is no scope for invalid votes and total secrecy of voting data is maintained and it also facilitates quick and accurate counting. The voting data recorded in EVMs can be retained for years and can be extracted if necessary.

The Electronic Voting Machine is a reliable system to conduct elections where one person has to be elected out of many candidates. The EVM is designed for a single post and a single vote.

Through an EVM, a voter can cast their vote for the candidate of their choice or choose the NOTA option. Each EVM has a None of the Above (NOTA) button for electors to use if they don't want to vote for any of the contestants.

In 1989, the Election Commission (EC) developed India's indigenous Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in alliance with two central government undertakings - the Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). EVMs were used for the first time in the Goa State Assembly elections of 1999.

How to use EVM?

— A voter needs to press the button against the candidate of his/her choice and then a red light glows against the symbol and name of the candidate for whom the vote has been cast. Simultaneously, a long beep can be heard, which confirms the polling of a particular vote.

— At the booth, a presiding officer will enable the ballot unit after the voter enters the polling compartment

— Press the blue button on the ballot unit against the symbol and name of a candidate of your choice.

— The red light will glow against the name or symbol of the selected candidate and a beep will be heard

— Voter will see a print of a ballot slip containing the name and symbol of the candidate and the serial number

Working Module of EVM

An EVM consists of a control unit and a balloting unit connected together by a five-metre cable. The control unit belongs to a polling officer while the balloting unit is kept in a compartment to cast votes. EVMs can even be used in areas with no electricity, as they can be operated on alkaline batteries.

The control unit is kept in the polling station with the Presiding Officer and is placed inside the voting compartment as the votes are counted through it whereas the balloting units are kept in the voting compartment for electors to cast their votes.

The balloting unit presents the voter with blue buttons horizontally labelled with corresponding party symbols and candidate names. The Control Unit, on the contrary, provides the officer-in-charge with a 'Ballot' marked button to proceed to the next voter, instead of issuing a ballot paper to them.

Controversy around the use of EVMs

Digitalisation, with the advent of EVMs, marked the transition from the primitive paper ballot systems and a long wait for results to a more reliable, safe and secure medium for conducting elections.

However, technology and transition have their own challenges and there are certain strata of political parties and people who challenge the authenticity of EVMs and there is always an ongoing debate on the same.'

Some political parties allege that EVMs were tampered with ahead of polls and are demanding the reintroduction of the ballot paper system of voting.

The call to abandon EVMs is not new. In 2009, when the Congress party was doing well in elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwart Lal Krishna Advani voiced concerns about the reliability of the machines after his party’s electoral defeat. Many political parties also supported the demand to revert to paper ballots.

However, the Election Commission, citing a study by technical experts that EVMs cannot be hacked, rejected the demand.

Tables turn: The issue made a comeback in the year 2020 after the results of assembly elections held in five states. By then, the tables had turned. With the BJP in power, this time the call for paper ballots came from the other side of the political spectrum.

The Congress spoke about “apprehensions among political parties and the people” over the misuse of EVMs and urged the EC to “revert to the old practice of using ballot papers as most major democracies have done.” The Aam Aadmi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party supported the move.

The reliability of EVMs came under scrutiny yet again during the Uttar Pradesh civic polls in November 2020, following reports that several voting machines were recording votes only for the BJP, irrespective of the buttons pressed.

Even though officials replaced the “faulty” machines, blaming a “malfunction”, non-BJP parties alleged the machines had been tampered with.

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