7 Ideas from Other Countries That Could Improve U.S. Elections

Americans are unhappy with this year’s presidential election, with two historically disliked major candidates and concerns rising about election fraud and voter suppression. Is there a better way? Here, voting methods from around the world that the U.S. could consider for next election season:

1. ELECTION-DAY REGISTRATION

Registering to vote in the U.S. is confusing and inconsistent across states. Currently, only 13 allow same-day voter registration, but making that uniform across the U.S., as Canada does, could lead to a higher turnout.

2. AUTOMATIC VOTER REGISTRATION

Oregon became the first state to automatically enroll eligible citizens as voters last year. As a consequence, the monthly number of registrations in 2016 is three times what it was in 2012. Auto-enrolling all voters, as France and Switzerland do, could make elections more accessible.

3. SHORTER CAMPAIGN SEASONS

Little wonder many Americans are sick of the candidates–this election will have lasted nearly 600 days by the time polls close on Nov. 8. By comparison, Canada’s longest campaign season in recent history lasted 11 weeks. In Japan, campaigns last just 12 days.

4. NONE OF THE ABOVE

India and Greece, among other nations, have a “none of the above” option on ballots, allowing voters to indicate disapproval without sitting out the election. In the U.S., only the state of Nevada has this option.

5. RANKED VOTING

Australia and Ireland let voters rank their choices. This would allow Americans to vote for a third-party candidate, knowing their second choice might get the vote in later counts.

6. MANDATORY VOTING

More than 22 countries around the world, including Uruguay and Australia, have mandatory voting, in which eligible voters can be penalized if they do not cast their ballot.

7. WEEKEND ELECTIONS

Some argue that holding elections on the weekend, as Brazil, Greece and many other countries do, rather than on a Tuesday would make it easier for more Americans to visit their polling stations.