Observing Senegal's Election

After a tumultuous seven-week political crisis where Senegal's elections were postponed, debated, and rescheduled 3 times, voters went to the polls on March 24 to elect Senegal's next president.  Anxious for the conclusion of this unprecedented turn of events, analysts were watching closely to see if democracy would win the day.  I had a front row seat as an accredited election observer. 

Voters line up outside a polling station

At each polling station I visited, there were 4 poll workers plus an official from the national voting agency as well as representatives from the candidates' political parties.  This presidential election had 19 candidates, but the polling stations I observed only had 3-5 reps from the most prominent parties.  That adds up to a minimum of 7 people in the room before counting any voters (or my observation team.)

My observation team with the mayor

Much of the voting process was on display for this audience.  As each voter entered, they handed their ID to the poll worker holding the official registration list.  The worker read the name out loud for the others in the room to confirm against their copy of the registration list.  The voter than proceeded to a table with 19 paper ballots laid out, a separate one for each candidate.  In full view of the room, voters were instructed to pick up between 5-19 candidate ballots to take with them into the secret ballot booth.

An enthusiastic voter submits his ballot

In the ballot booth, which was usually a simple black curtain hung in the corner, the voter finally had privacy to seal their chosen candidate's ballot in a voting envelope and throw the remaining ballots in the trash can.  After emerging from behind the curtain, the voter placed the envelope into the ballot box before signing the voting registry and dipping their finger in indelible ink.

A voter signs the registry

For an American, this sounds like a lot of steps in front of a lot of people.  But the voters I observed were not fazed.  They calmly executed their civic duty, with turnout hovering around 60%.  After weeks of legitimate hand-wringing and lamentations that democracy was dying in Senegal, voters showed that they indeed had the power to revive their democracy and would not shirk from that duty.  Americans, kindly take note, come November.

Future voters enjoying election day