Today was Peru's national voting day, they do this every three years. I was surprised to find that they were only voting for Mayor, no other bills or laws or elected officials to vote on. They have 18 parties just for Mayor and they have slogans like bread, condor, or potato. They have little logos of bread, condors, or potatoes, etc for people who are illiterate. The way they market themselves is also very strange, they drive down the streets with huge loud speakers taped to the tops of the cars and fuzzy banners hanging off the trucks and loudly proclaim their propaganda at all hours of the night and or day. They give our candy and trinkets to kids. Jose had to check in this huge newspaper about where he would be voting and some people are randomly selected to be poll helpers (it is not voluntary here). Everyone in Peru is required to vote or they are fined quite a bit of money. If their ID cards are not up to date then they are not on the poll lists and are not allowed to vote and then are fined anyway even if they show up to vote. We went to the university where he was scheduled to vote and had to look at yet another long list of numbers for what polling group he belonged to. We then had to find the building it listed for him (no maps provided) while armed policeman patrolled the area. Hordes of ladies were selling sweets, food, snacks, drinks, and gambling games outside. We found his building and went to the designated classroom. His name was on the list thankfully. I was shocked to see that they only let one person vote at a time, one person per classroom. It was SO slow and inefficient. They gave everyone their papers and one pen for each classroom and then had them vote behind a little plastic board at a desk. It takes 3 seconds to vote and then they have to sign and put their fingerprint on the paper. Then they get a sticker on their ID card and their middle finger is dipped in this purple-blue ink to show that they voted. It was really strange. I wonder who will win...the bread man, potato man, etc?
