 Vi ska tala lite om balotpapers och varför de märker idag. I inför oss har vi några magnifierade versier av balot från både Sverige och Danmark i Finland. Vi ska se vad de kan säga. Jag börjar med att ta ut den magnifierade versierna av en selektion i Sverige 1921. Christina, när du tittar på den här balot, vad ser du ut? Jag ser en balotpapers som är ganska lätt att använda för votare. Jag ser certaina typer av information. Det är en karriär av information om en specifikt parti, Arbitare Partiet. Men det håller också alla kandidaterna på balotpapers. I 1921 har vi den arki-typen som jag skulle säga av den svenska balotpapers i dag. I den väldigt toppen har vi Jan-Marper Anting, som blev den svenska prime ministern. Det är en balot från en av de samme selektionen, samma parti, men en annan distri. Det ser ganska bra ut. Ja, i 1920 var det en elektro-reform som sa att i 1921 eller 1920 man skulle ha en parti-name på balotpapers. Det var inte så. Men påverkningen av balotpapers kan det vara en varierad sässe. Det kan ha inga namn, så länge det hade en parti-name på det. Så du hade väldigt lilla restriktioner för att läsa av den aktuella balotpapers. Men det hade att vara röda, även om det är lite grönt. Det hade att vara röda. Det var det enaste kriterier. Men om vi fastar på 50 år till 1968 eller 1970 så har det blivit dramatiskt. Vi har ett exempel av en parti. Vad har vi här? I 1970 var det en elektro-reform. Alltid hade vi joinat elektioner i Sverige. Vi hade att distingra det mellan balotpapers, särskilt alla tre elektioner på lokala, regionella och nationella nivåer som var i en och samma dag. Det betyder att balotpapers inte kunde vara röda. Man skulle inte kunna distingra det mellan de elektionerna. Alltid har vi kallar. Alltid har vi markeringar i kronan. Nu har vi de i en envelop. Du har inte gjort det tidigare. Nej, ja. Det var en säkerhetsmål att visa att det var rätt votare i elektionerna som var tidigare att vota. Tidigare kunder har olika säkerhetsmål och det var den svenska. Markeringen i kronan var att make sure att balotpapers i rätt kronan var användat. Tidigare hade du kvitt av kronan. Du kände i kronan att det var två kronan. Det var för nationell parlament. En liten linjel var för lokala elektioner och ingen linjel för regionella elektioner. Alltid såg att de balotpapers läggarna var väldigt, väldigt viktig. Och så många fejter som kunde vara reglade i balotpapers. Även om det är en ganska stort hårdare från den tidigare balot vi kunde se, det är nog en mycket högre regulering än vad vi ser här. Så visuellt det ser olika, men regulatoriskt är det ganska olika. Ja, det är sant. Om du tittar på den här kronan, det håller på en parti och några kandidater. Och det kunde vara väldigt i gränsen och i form av det. Alltid har du haft att lägga allt i en envelop med precis den samla gränsen. Och vi hade tre elektioner på samma dag. Så, ja, du hade att ha de markningarna och du hade andra information, apart från parti och kandidater. Du behöver också ha andra information på balotpapers. Här har det en selektion till National Parliament och också du måste marka geografi, om det inte var för en specifikt konflikt i Sverige. Så, ja, så mycket mer information i den här lilla balotpapers som var behövt. Så när det svenska regeringen decide to change the ballots in 1970, vem är de olika sort av stäckhålder i den här paperen? För jag går bara till elektionen när det är elektionen och jag tar en envelop för vem jag vill. Men det finns många andra stäckhålder som också är intresserade i den här lilla paperen. Vem är de? Och vad behöver de? Well, apart from the voter, this is the carrier of the voter's intention and that is the number one. But then again, the same paper is actually used to calculate the result. It's the basis of the election result. But you also have stakeholders in terms of the election administration. Subtly, a small piece of paper needs to be printed, it needs to be distributed and it needs also to be understood. But it also represents, I would say, the electoral system as such. And the varieties of ways people have to cast a vote. If you want to have a system with advanced voting, for example, and you don't vote in your election station on e-day, well, you might need another ballot paper than the one designated for your ordinary polling station because you vote in another part of the country. So it means that the design system has to take into consideration the varieties that people have to vote in each specific case. OK, and now since this system was introduced to us, it has passed yet another 50 years, since we next year are celebrating 100 years of democracy in Sweden, which is quite fantastic. And we have changed once during this period. But now there has been a debate on maybe updating things. Here are the last ballot papers from 2018 for two Swedish parties. Slightly smaller than normal, actually, in this case. Yeah. And what do we see here? Well, what we see is... I can show you two pieces of ballot papers. What we see is that at the top you have the party name and suddenly this can be printed in colour and you can use also a symbol. And the symbol is there for accessibility reasons, really. And then we have had a personal voting reform, meaning that you are allowed to give a preference vote on the ballot paper. It means that all the candidates listed here, they have a teeny-weeny square where you can mark your personal vote and you may mark one in this case. And as you see, you have similar information, that is administrative information, as the previous one from 1970, but the lines have changed places. Nowadays, the envelopes used to have their control hole, I would say, in the middle of the envelope instead. So yes, they have changed and they have become a little bit more accessible when it comes to the party name. But still, the font is really very small. One thing we can conclude from this is that in a stable democracy as Sweden, things doesn't change very much. There are nuances of changes rather than big transformation. I would say so. And the examples that we see here from 1920 and onwards, they show that Sweden has been very fond of the so-called French system, which is a party unique ballot paper system. Each party will have their unique ballot. Och även though we've had reforms, the way that the voters' intention is displayed on the ballot paper hasn't changed that much in so many years. Okay, so we have this French system that we have been using, but the country most similar to Sweden probably, in the world, Finland, I mean, it's very similar. Or Denmark. Or Denmark, they have chosen completely different ways. Yes. Isn't that strange? Because they are also very stable democracies. High literacy levels, etc. Yes. It's rather remarkable, really, that Sweden, Denmark and Finland have chosen completely different layouts and completely different systems on how to look upon the ballot paper. But let's look at the Finnish ballot. There you go, Tissina. Well, it's just a blank piece of paper. But if you fold it out, you have administrative information. This is election to a certain year, to parliament. And we have a circle. Now, in normal cases in Finland, you write, the voter writes his attention by stating a number. And the number represents a party and a candidate in one and same number. But this voter's intention is clearly different. I have to say that this was not valued as a valid ballot paper. But it's a really very funny example on how the voter's intention can be expressed in another way. Then maybe the administration was expecting. So, supermen, here we come. And the Finnish system is based upon this thing that you put inside the ballot box. Yes. But also another list on the wall. All the numbers of the candidates are stated. As for the voter, compared with Sweden, where you have everything printed on the ballot paper in terms of party and candidates, this one is blank. It has no party information whatsoever. It means that the voter has to receive that information from another place than the actual surface of the ballot. That is done by placing enormous amounts of posters at both advanced voting places and polling stations on E-day. So the voter has direct access to the number of the candidate he or she would like to vote for. And easy to remember to place that number on the ballot. So it's a completely different system when it comes to the layout. But they do have a system based on multiple parties and multiple candidates. So this is how they do it. And just like Sweden, they of course come extremely high in these international indexes of democracy. It shows that there are many ways forward in the way. Yes. And also in Finland, as in Sweden, they've had this system for a very, very long time. And also a notable is that it has always required the voter to be able to hold a pen and write a number. And that's not obvious in some other countries. In Sweden, you must be able to read. You must be able to place a cross. And you might be able to have to write the party name in case you don't find the party you want to vote for. You can use a blank ballot paper and write. But in ordinary voting cases in Sweden, you have everything on a ballot paper. But Finland chose another direction. Let's look at the Danish version. They have chosen another part. It's somewhere in between Sweden and Finland, you could say. Yes. This is a ballot paper that holds all the political parties and all the candidates for that specific constituency. It means that the voter will have everything on one piece of paper. You don't have to read in advance or choose between a variety of parties outside of the polling booth. This is what you get when you come into the polling station. The thing you have to do is to be able to read and to be able to place a cross for your political party and for your candidate. The Danish seem to be very fond of their system. De tycker att det är riktigt bra. I think many countries are fond of their systems. Yes. But they are. But Denmark is also a smaller country. I think that this also ties in with the choice of a ballot paper. Whether or not it has to be printed in enormous amounts or whether or not it's printable locally or centrally or in any other country. I think it matters also that all these surrounding qualities whether or not you choose to go in a certain direction. We have looked at the number of ballots from different times and from different countries. So if we would like if we would try to aggregate this information to you Christina what does a ballot represent. For me the ballot is actually the heart of every election. It is the carrier of information for the election administration when it comes to what's on it. Should it be parties candidates or nothing at all. But for the voter it has a clear symbolic value because it has the voters intention there. And also I would say that it carries the election result because without this without the voters intention and without the ballot paper that can be readable and countable. We won't have an election result. So I think it has a huge symbolic value. You have gone around and watched this exhibition. What does it make you think. I think that you have such a variety of systems depending on what countries are at hand in what stage of development they're in. But it becomes very evident to me that that there are challenges and there are big challenges that will not only affect one or two countries but many countries and the first challenge that strikes me is that we need to make the ballots more accessible. And it becomes very evident for example the size of the fonts. The actual size of the ballot paper very small to very large that could have an accessibility impact. But also how the contestants are presented to the voter. How easy is it to vote. And I think that we might want to rethink how to use the surface of the ballot or the ballot paper in order to find alternatives or ways of enhancing accessibility to make it easier not only to vote but also to count and to get a correct result without invalid ballot papers. The second challenge has to do with paper. It becomes very evident that this exhibition has to do with ballot papers. And today we have environmentally concern when it comes to how much paper is actually produced in the world. We need to decrease that. And also the fact that less and less material printed today. So this is something that will directly impact the elections I would say. And I know that many countries already today have this on the agenda. But the easy way to think might be oh yes yes let's go digital. But I think that there are hesitations to go digital or at least to do it very quickly. So what we need to do is to try to find alternatives that's more environmentally sound I would say without digitalizing the ballot. OK so hearing this the million dollar question. Is there a perfect. I think that in each system you can always refine a ballot depending on what values you would like the ballot to to achieve. And there are so many considerations that must be taken into account when when designing a ballot. And those values might look different between countries. So one ballot might be perfect for one country but a disaster. Well thank you very much Kristina for visiting the exhibition and sharing your insight about the ballots and elections. Thank you for having.