367: Electorally Ep. 2 | Taiwan: Every Ballot, Out Loud

On January 13, 2024, Taiwan voted for a president. Polls closed at 4 p.m. Poll workers then took out every paper ballot, held it up for the room to see, and read the name out loud. There are no voting machines and no absentee ballots. You vote in person where your household is registered, which is why thousands of Taiwanese Americans flew home to do it. By that evening, the island knew who had won. William Lai took 40 percent, the first time one party has won three presidential terms in a row since Taiwan began direct elections in 1996. The same day, his party lost its majority in the legislature.Saadia Khan talks with Brian Hioe, a Taipei-based journalist and founding editor of New Bloom, a magazine covering activism and youth politics in Taiwan. In this episode:Why Taiwan counts by hand, in public, on purposeWhat it means that there is no mail-in or absentee voting, and who gets left outFamilies who take their parents on vacation during election week so the votes cancel outWhy the...