July 5th - "The Ballot" by Alec Newell

The polling station in Vourliotes
photos by Newell

The balloting place for our village is the primary school.  As you enter the  building the first classroom on the left is for voters with last names that begin with Alpha through Kappa, and the first classroom on the immediate right is for voters with last names that begin with Lambda through Omega.  The atmosphere is relaxed.  The poll sitters and voters all seem to be on a first name basis, but the actual voting procedure is fixed and somewhat formal.

The voter hands over a laminated identification card which is checked against a computer generated list, an envelope is stamped and initialed by a poll sitter, and the voter is issued two pieces of paper.  One is a printed ballot sheet with two boxes: one marked Oxi (pronounced O'-hee) meaning No, the other marked Nai (pronounced nay) meaning yes.  The second sheet is an aspero meaning white.  It is a blank sheet of paper that signals a formal abstention.  The voter retires to an aluminum frame cubicle with a curtain to mark the ballot, inserts one of the sheets of paper into the stamped envelope, and drops it into the Plexiglas ballot box in front of the polling attendants.  At this point the voter has his identification card returned.  I saw several instances where older voters walked off forgetting to collect their ID cards, and a polling attendant had to chase the voters down to return them.



A bit of last minute campaign messaging

The impression I got was that the younger voters seemed to favor rejecting the proposal.  One held up his ballot for me and pointed at the box marked Oxi or No.  He encouraged me to take a picture but when I stepped back to include him in the photo he said, "No Face."

The older voters, worried about losing what remains of their dwindling retirement money, seemed to favor the more conservative option.  On one occasion I noticed a man with very limited sight ask for assistance from a poll sitter to help him mark his ballot.  My Greek is limited, but I could hear a very audible "Nay" (yes) spoken from behind the closed curtain.

the voting booth

A restaurant owner from the village recognized me and smiled.  Just before he dropped his envelope in the box, he drew his finger across his throat saying "Ohee" (no) then he signaled a chopping motion to the back of his neck with the edge of his hand and said "Nay" (yes) then he shrugged, turned his palms up and dropped his ballot in the box, indicating that no matter which way today's vote went, no good would come of it.

The voter turnout for this referendum was unusually high today, and the results from the ballot could even be in before I post this, so we'll see.

the ballot box