Observator International, doi

I met my Translator, a Moldovan legal expert, at the Roberts Coffee and we planned our route.

We were able to visit 7 polls in Chisinau's city center.

One of the attached photos here shows the poster with the 6-step process for casting a ballot in the election.

First, you show your ID. In all of the city center polls, this was a 2-step process. The UN has developed an online registration process, and there were 2 staffers with laptops who would check in voters using the online database. Then voters would check in the traditional way. (There were also UN observers, who were monitoring the process of the online check in as well as conducting exit polls to assess voter satisfaction with the online system) The UN expect that by the 2011 election, they will have these laptops/online registration system in all Moldovan polling locations.

Voters show 2 IDs -- a plastic card (a little bigger than a US drivers license) which includes a number (like a SSN or passport number). Citizens also have a paper attachment to this plastic card. The paper attachment is what includes domicile. The only "issues" we saw were when voters did not have their paper attachment (and thus could not demonstrate that they were in the correct polling location). Interestingly, when a citizen votes, a stamp for that election is recorded on the paper attachment as well.

Polls were arranged similar to US polls. I thought it was interesting that the 5 to 7 workers at the tables who were checking the voters' IDs/lists had their lists organized by street address, not by last name.

After being checked off the list, the voter would be given a ballot, and would then go in to the voting booth. Some of the curtains were sheer enough to allow me to see that there was a table and a chair - and in many cases a lamp as well. The voting booths looked quite cozy/charming

Inside the booth there was an official stamp, which is what the voter would use to stamp either pentru or contra.

Then the voter would exit the booth, and drop the ballot in the ballot box.