Doing his civic duty

I have been a registered voter for almost 20 years.  I believe voting and participating in the democratic process is part of being an active member of your community.  I have always voted by mail.  In fact, I have never gone to a polling station.  I've always felt a little sad that I didn't receive the infamous "I voted" sticker that those who vote in person receive.  Knowing that I let my voice be heard has always had to be enough for me.

While I am a resident of Japan, I cannot vote in this country.  Since I am not a citizen, I do not have the right to vote.  (I can still vote in the US by absentee ballot, which I fully intend to do.)  But my husband is a citizen and has the right to vote here.

For the last few weeks, we have seen many billboards put up around town with campaign posters glued to them.  There are not lawns and freeway entrances filled with campaign signs here.  Candidates can only put their advertisements on these billboards, which makes for a lot quicker and easier cleanup following the election. 

For further promotion, candidates often drive around in neighborhoods with loud speakers talking about their political stances.  This can be quite annoying at times, but luckily the car eventually passes by.  They can also sometimes be found in high traffic areas (like near the train station or major shopping areas) with their trusty sound amplifier to ramble on about how they will help their constituents. 

The city of Nerima is in the process of electing a new mayor and replacing a city council member.  Today was voting day.  Even though I could not vote, I could go to the polls with my husband and support him in electing new city officials.  Last week, my husband received his voters registration card with instructions for today's voting location and times.

On our walk to the elementary school indicated on the card, we spotted three cars heading out to go encourage people to vote.  Although he didn't need the reminder, we both got a big kick out of the cutely decorated tiny cars.

Upon arrival, we entered the voting room (maybe an auditorium or staff meeting room) and provided the registration card to the gentleman at the table closest to the door.  Once the card was checked, he instructed my husband to go to the next table.  He then received a small piece of paper that he took to the voting booth - a standing desk with dividers between each desk and a list of the mayoral candidates posted in each one.  He wrote out the name of the person he was voting for and then put in into the slot atop a huge locked box with signs indicating mayoral race.  My husband then went to the third desk, where that woman gave him another piece of paper.  He walked up to a second set of voting booths and voted for the city council member.  There was a second locked box that he put the second slip of paper into. 

Notice the paper covered floors.

This is so that people don't have to remove their shoes!

And with that, he was done.  He could walk away knowing that he had done his civic duty.  As a person that's never voted in person, I found it to be very interesting and was happy I followed him around.  I would guess that it is a pretty similar process to the US, but I really don't know!