Voting in Switzerland vs. Voting in the U.S.

I just voted for the first time in Switzerland (yes, I am allowed to do this, it is my right as a Swiss citizen). The process was *so* easy, and there are a couple key differences I’d like to highlight for those who might be interested.

For one thing, you are automatically registered to vote in your city and canton (the Swiss equivalent to a state…almost) when you register as a resident there. Following that, you will be automatically sent your ballot(s) and Abstimmungsausweis (voter ID card equivalent) prior to each election for the area in which you are registered, at the address at which you are registered. Then, you can fill out your ballot and send it back in the mail, similar to the US (along with your Abstimmungsausweis, of which you get a new one each time).

For those who prefer to do so (or find it more convenient) to vote in person, as I did, can go to their nearest polling station on the day of the election — a SUNDAY — to vote. Mine was a 5-minute walk from where I live.

I’m sure there are complexities and complications to the system that I have yet to fully understand and certainly won’t claim that it couldn’t be improved (I found the registering as a resident process a little unnecessarily complicated, for example, which is also directly linked to how you vote), but the simple facts that 1), you are automatically registered to vote as a citizen of this country, and 2) you are allowed to vote in-person on Sunday, is mind-boggling coming from my experiences in the States. Voting, especially in-person at a polling station, is *so* much more complicated than here (I should also mention it took me about 3 minutes once I got there and then I was done — I didn’t even have to wait in line).

It’s genuinely maddening how difficult we make it to vote in the U.S., the first and foremost problem being in my mind that we vote on a Tuesday, a day of the week most people have either work or school, or both. Obviously, making election day on a Sunday wouldn’t solve everyone’s problems — some people have to work on Sundays too (though in Switzerland it kind of makes sense given that almost everything, with exception of things like swimming pools, hospitals, and convenience stores, are closed on Sundays), but it would still be better than a Tuesday, which is inconvenient for virtually everyone. Or, better yet, could we just make election day a holiday already? The fact that the U.S., or really every country in the world, has not already done this is also ridiculous to me. Intentional voter suppression and voter disenfranchisement aside, can someone give me one good and legitimate reason why we haven’t done this already?

Switzerland still has it’s own kinks in the system to work out. I’m sure people living and voting here can attest to that too, given that voter turnout is still pretty low and less than half of registered Swiss voters went to the polls in 2018. But at least you can tell that the powers that be are taking steps to make it easier rather than harder for people to vote here, which is more than I can say for us.