democracy

A guide to voting in the Swedish election

Since the election of 2014 I've maintained a website about voting in Sweden's general election. I made it to provide an easily accessible English-language overview, hoping to encourage more people to vote.

Many people may hesitate to vote if they feel uncertain about the process or are afraid of making mistakes. With simple illustrations and short, clear instructions my intent is to help non-Swedish speaking voters feel more at ease.

Between elections I tend to forget about the website, and then I'm reminded when somebody sends me an email telling me how much they appreciate it.

I got this the other day:

Subject: You're awesome!

Just read your voting in Sweden site and it was fantastic!

Easy to understand!
Great communicator you are!
And when I read that you specialize in digital ethics!
I commend you even more!
Keep up the great work!!

Unknown person voting in Sweden for the first time

After this lovely bit of feedback this I made an effort to upgrade the website, double-check the details and make it more user-friendly. Sections are now more clearly labeled and specific instructions can now be more easily shared.

If you believe the website can be of value to more people, I'm always happy if you feel comfortable sharing it. The web address is howtovote.se.

Voting procedure novelties

My thinking is that How to vote in Sweden will also be of use for anyone curious about how voting is managed in different countries. I'm betting some will be surprised to learn that Sweden's election is completely paper-based and there is no way of voting digitally. Also, there is a simple process to allow people held in jail or other correctional institutions to vote by courier. Voting ahead of time is quite popular as well.

I haven't written about it yet on the website, but the counting of the votes is of course also open for the public to come and watch. There are always improvements to be made to the election logistics, often within areas of accessibility, but I do appreciate the efforts of transparency on display.