Guatemalans Voted in National Elections on September 9th

Guatemalan Elections 2007 - Marked finger with indelible ink

A finger marked with indelible ink is the proof you have voted in the Guatemalan General Elections. Above a marked finger in front of one of the voting centers in La Antigua Guatemala where elections progressed in a calm and quiet atmosphere.

People were pointed to their voting centers by a mailed slip with the information or by visiting one of citizens’ registration booths made available by the Tribunal Supremo Electoral (Electoral Supreme Tribunal). At the voting centers, people were oriented by the posters with table numbers and voting registration number (número de empadronamiento in Spanish). Once the voters had the right table, they walked to the queue and waiting their voting turn. At their turn, they approached the table where they had to show their cédulas (Identification card) and they were asked to repeat some of the information in their cédulas. Their voting registration number was checked against the logbooks provided by Tribunal Supremo Electoral. If all checked correctly, voters were given four ballots: One for city mayor, another for regional congress seats, another national congress seats and the last one for president and vice-president. With the four ballots and a crayon, voters walked to the voting booth and marked their election and walked back to the voting table to deposit their ballots in the urnas (ballot transparent bags). After that, voters had to sign the voting registration logbooks and their cédula was given back and their pointing finger marked with indelible ink. Basically, this is the voting process in Guatemala.

Children were also given the opportunity to simulate the election process by voting for president and vice-president. The children’s election process mimicked the adult voting process with similar ballot and erasable purple ink. Children between 5 and 17 years of age could participate. Children voting centers were located at different locations throughout La Antigua Guatemala.

I prepared a Flickr Slideshow of the Guatemalan Elections 2007 with keyframes showing the election process described above. Please, let me know what you think of it and if you believe I have done my job at giving you a feeling for the election process in La Antigua Guatemala. I will be waiting for your feedback.

Here is a short list of other blogs (in Spanish) that covered the Guatemalan Elections thanks to Blogschapines.com:

  1. Votaciones 2007
  2. Dentro del proceso electoral
  3. Sitios Web de los medios impresos y las Elecciones Generales en Guatemala
  4. Maratonica lucha para ejercer el voto
  5. Elecciones en Guatemala Transcurren con normalidad
  6. Primera media jornada de votación transcurre en calma
  7. Otto Pérez Molina en las urnas del CUM
  8. Todos a Votar
  9. Llegó la hora: a mancharse el dedo

© 2007 – 2020, Rudy Giron. All rights reserved.

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