IO Podcast|Episode 24
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Watch on BitChute
Alisa Gray—interim training and assessment specialist at the Voting System Technical Oversight Program (VSTOP)—and Chad Kinsella—co-director of VSTOP—visited Guatemala as foreign electoral observers. They explain the role of foreign observers in the Guatemalan general elections on June 25. Further, Gray and Kinsella describe the main procedural differences between elections in Guatemala and Indiana, United States. These differences include the use of paper ballots and manual vote counting in Guatemala instead of digital processes in Indiana.
For Gray and Kinsella, some Guatemalans were frustrated with the presidential candidates on the ballot, which could explain the large number of void and blank votes. In addition, they contend that voting polls in Guatemala had the presence of multiple parties’ representatives. Gray added that the observers’ trip from Indiana to Guatemala was an important educational experience.
Recommended Links
- Follow Gray and Kinsella on LinkedIn.
- Visit the Bowen Center for Public Affairs.
- Visit VSTOP.
- Visit the Certificate in Election, Administration, Technology, and Security (CEATS) Program.
- “Guatemala Slouching toward Democracy,” Impunity Observer.
- “Why Indiana’s Latino Secretary of State Backs Voter ID,” Impunity Observer.
