Elon Musk Commends India's Vote Counting System, Mocks US Elections
India held its Lok Sabha elections this year, with more than 900 million eligible voters participating. Among these, an unprecedented 642 million individuals participated in the voting process. Elon Musk lauded the effectiveness of India's vote-tabulation system on Sunday, while criticizing the extended delays in certain regions of the United States, specifically California. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Mr Musk praised India's efficiency in counting 640 million votes in one day after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
He compared this to the slow vote counting in California for the US presidential elections, which is still ongoing almost 20 days after voting started on November 5. Responding to a post that carried a screenshot of a media report titled "How India counted 640 million votes in a day", the Tesla and SpaceX chief wrote, "India counted 640 million votes in 1 day." California is currently in the process of tallying votes. India held its Lok Sabha elections earlier this year, which included more than 900 million eligible voters. Out of these, a staggering 642 million individuals participated in voting. Despite the large size, the results were announced within one day of counting. How India Tabulated The Votes
Through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs): Employed since 2000, these machines guarantee quick and precise counting.
Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT): Implemented to increase transparency, the VVPAT mechanism generates a paper receipt for each vote cast, enabling verification when necessary.
Moreover, India's 543 parliamentary constituencies tally votes all at once, supervised by the Election Commission of India (ECI). As per Supreme Court guidelines, postal ballots are counted before unsealing EVM votes. Votes are counted in centralized locations under the supervision of Returning Officers, with results declared after each round. India was able to tally nearly 90 million votes in a short span of time during recent state elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Maharashtra, with a population four times that of California, achieved results efficiently.
Vote counting in the United States, especially in states like California, typically takes weeks. California, the state with the highest population in the United States, experienced delays in its presidential election on November 5. Over 300,000 ballots remained uncounted for several weeks. This has received negative feedback from not just Mr. Musk, but also from voters and analysts who are doubtful about the effectiveness of the system. California primarily conducts its elections through mail-in voting. Processing these ballots includes various stages such as verifying signatures on the ballot envelopes, opening and sorting the ballots before they can be counted, and so on.
In contrast to India's centralized supervision by the ECI, the United States depends on state and local election offices, each having their own regulations and resources.
