10.04.07
Class Representatives
Today’s post begins a series of posts on school in Italy. Hope you like it…
Today I attended a meeting to elect class representatives for my youngest kid’s class. As we sat on the tiny chairs in the classroom, the teacher explained the rules:
- Voting must be in the presence of another parent as a witness
- We must show ID in order to vote
- We can only vote for people who were nominated beforehand
- All voting takes place using a secret ballot
- We must nominate at least two people, in case the first person is unable to fulfill their duties
As we went through the rules, I suddenly thought that I must be in the wrong meeting. Surely we don’t need all this pomp just for the room mother of my son’s preschool? OK, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. The class representative does quite a bit of work, but secret ballots? Alternates? Witnesses? Doesn’t it all seem a bit excessive?
When I received my ballot, I asked the person who the nominees were (all three classes had earlier nominated their respective nominees at the same time by shouting - this foreigner had a bit of trouble keeping up). She pointed at a list on the wall and said that everyone was voting for the first name on the list. He was the one that wanted to do it. I scribbled his name down, slid my ballot into the ballot box, and went on my way.
SQJTaipei said,
10.04.07 at 1:01 pm
so much for it all being a secret.
now the WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD knows who you voted for.
I’ll never be able to partake in a secret ballot vote with you now.
Ryan said,
10.04.07 at 11:32 pm
I voted here in Albuquerque on Tuesday and we didn’t have nearly that much security. All I did was walk in, tell my address and voted. I didn’t even have to show ID. Maybe we could learn some things from your elementary school.
Josh_Furnal said,
10.07.07 at 9:56 pm
wow, you would do GREAT on survivor.