A voter casts a ballot in a single-seat constituency for the House of Representatives election, in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Oct. 31, 2021. (Mainichi/Toshiki Miyama)

       The Mainichi Shimbun answers some common questions readers may have about the process of vote counting in Japan elections, which can be prolonged for various reasons.

       Question: The House of Representatives election was held on Oct. 31, and vote counts began as soon as most polling stations closed at 8 p.m. Does it take a long time?

       Answer: Votes are counted at ballot-counting stations set up in municipalities. One of the major causes of vote count delays is recounts due to disparities between voter numbers and ballots. In some cases, it takes time to deal with what are called "questionable ballots," in which candidates' names written on ballots are wrong or when it's difficult to tell whom the vote was cast for because the candidate's full name was not written. In these cases, such votes may be divided out to multiple candidates according to their share of votes.

       Q: Until what time are votes counted?

       A: The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications had presented an outlook for the latest lower house election that vote counting would be completed by 5:50 a.m. on Nov. 1 for the final prefecture of Kanagawa. But it does not always go smoothly. In the previous general election in 2017, vote counts started on the following day in 12 municipalities for reasons such as a delay in transporting ballot boxes from a remote island by sea due to a typhoon. The latest to finish counting in 2017 was the Aichi Prefecture city of Nishio, at 9:55 p.m. on the day following election day.

       Q: Did the coronavirus pandemic affect the process this time?

       A: There is a risk of virus transmission because local government employees work for a long time at ballot-counting stations. Local bodies have reduced the number of vote-counting workers and increased the number of ballot-counting machines. According to the internal affairs ministry, however, as much as 40% of municipalities took a longer time to count ballots in local and national elections held between April and July 2020, compared to the previous such elections.

       Q: Do they not allow digital voting?

       A: Electronic voting, in which people cast votes on touchscreens or by other means at polling stations, has been allowed in local elections since 2002, but it has not become common partly due to machine trouble. Depending on the ballot-counting situation, promoting the system may be proactively discussed at the national Diet and elsewhere.

       (Japanese original by Kazuhiko Hori, Political News Department)

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