Elon Musk on Sunday praised the efficiency of India’s vote counting process and criticized long delays in parts of the United States, especially California. In a post on By counting, which is almost incomplete. Voting started 20 days later on 5 November.
Responding to the post containing a screenshot of a media report titled ‘How India counted 640 million votes in 1 day’, the Tesla and SpaceX chief wrote, “India counted 640 million votes in 1 day. California still counting votes.” doing”
640 million votes were counted in India in 1 day.
Are votes still being counted in California?
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 24 November 2024
India held its Lok Sabha elections earlier this year, involving more than 900 million eligible voters. Of these, a record breaking 64.2 crore people cast their votes. Despite the massive scale, the results were declared within a single day of counting.
How did India count the votes?
Through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs): Used since 2000, these devices ensure fast and accurate counting.
Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT): Introduced to increase transparency, the VVPAT system generates a paper slip for each vote, allowing verification when needed.
Additionally, counting is conducted simultaneously in India’s 543 parliamentary constituencies, which are overseen by the Election Commission of India (ECI). As per Supreme Court guidelines, postal ballots are processed and counted before opening the seals of EVM votes. Under the supervision of returning officers, votes are tallied at centralized locations, and results are declared after each round.
Even during state elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand last week, India managed to count nearly 90 million votes in just a few hours. Maharashtra alone, with a population four times that of California, delivered results with remarkable efficiency.
Why the delay in California
In the United States – especially in states like California – vote counting often lasts for weeks. The Nov. 5 presidential election in California, America’s most populous state, has reported delays, with more than 300,000 ballots still not counted several weeks later. It has been criticized not only by Mr Musk but also by voters and analysts who question the efficiency of the system.
California conducts most of its elections by mail. Processing these ballot papers involves several steps such as signature verification on ballot envelopes, opening and sorting of ballot papers before tallying, etc.
Unlike India’s centralized monitoring by the ECI, the US relies on state and local election offices, each with their own laws and resources.
