<story><title>Indonesia election: More than 270 election staff die counting votes</title><url>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48083051</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>littlestymaar</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m surprised to see that they pay workers to count ballots. In France ballots are counted by benevolent citizens at voting places, and I always assumed it was a necessary condition for free democratic elections.&lt;p&gt;What about your country fellow HNer, how do elections work there ?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>BurningFrog</author><text>In Sweden I was paid to count votes. It&amp;#x27;s boring and important work, so it makes a ton of sense to me.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d prefer disinterested people counting votes for money to fanatics doing it idealistically. But perhaps my bias shines through in the phrasing...</text></comment>
<story><title>Indonesia election: More than 270 election staff die counting votes</title><url>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48083051</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>littlestymaar</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m surprised to see that they pay workers to count ballots. In France ballots are counted by benevolent citizens at voting places, and I always assumed it was a necessary condition for free democratic elections.&lt;p&gt;What about your country fellow HNer, how do elections work there ?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>johnchristopher</author><text>In Belgium citizens are selected at random (there are filters such as age and civic rights I think) and are obliged to manage the electoral place set with ballots. If there isn&amp;#x27;t enough people showing up then the first voters are supposed to do the job.&lt;p&gt;You are supposed to get fined if you fail to show up and you were chosen but it&amp;#x27;s rarely applied except for the chief (president is the term) (who is also chosen at random) of the voting booths.&lt;p&gt;Voting is mandatory in Belgium so it kinda&amp;#x2F;maybe make sense to pick people among the population.&lt;p&gt;You are compensated for the day&amp;#x27;s work but not much.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d rather have random citizen do that job than civil servants.</text></comment>