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[-] Railison@aussie.zone 32 points 6 days ago

Australia: carrying out elections.

Voting is compulsory and you will be fined if you don’t vote without an acceptable reason.

But because voting is compulsory, it’s extremely easy and accessible. Waiting in line for more than 15 minutes is a long wait. Even in the suburbs you’re not usually more than a five minute drive from a polling place.

If you think you’ll have trouble getting to a polling place on election day (a Saturday), you can request a postal ballot or vote early at a different polling place.

We have an independent electoral commission federally and in each state/territory to organise elections (depending on which level of government you’re voting for). They also handle district boundaries to remove gerrymandering.

All ballots are marked and counted by hand. The counting process is open and transparent: any candidate can send people to inspect the counting process and ensure there are no irregularities.

[-] Nath@aussie.zone 5 points 5 days ago

This is all true, but there's more:

  • Our election campaigns are six weeks by definition. No political ads filling the airwaves the rest of the time.
  • We have preferential voting. You don't have to choose only between the shit and shit-lite parties. You can vote for someone else, and still put shit-lite as your preferred option if the independent you voted first for didn't get in.
  • The electoral commission will help pay for your campaigning if you secured 5% of the vote. Evens the field a bit for not-rich people to run.
  • Political signs on houses are pretty rare. Maybe a couple of diehard fans.
  • Nobody gets real angry at you if you vote for someone different.
[-] doofy77@aussie.zone 7 points 6 days ago

You don't have to vote. As long as you show up and have your name marked off, you can leave the ballot paper blank.

[-] Ross_audio@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago

And the democracy sausage!

[-] qevlarr@lemmy.world 28 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Dutch traffic infrastructure. It's incredibly safe, promotes walking, bicycling and public transport, well maintained and easy to understand. There's a reason the largest Youtube channel on urban planning center around the Netherlands experience (and how other places could learn): https://youtube.com/@notjustbikes

[-] Shou@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

You may shit and piss all over the NS, but once you've been abroad, you'll accept those delays with grace.

[-] bremen15@feddit.org 21 points 6 days ago
[-] htrayl@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

Was learning about the requirements it be a baker in Germany - something like 3 years of school to work at a bakery, 6 years to own one. Crazy.

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[-] Ugurcan@lemmy.world 29 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Turkiye: E-Devlet.

We have this E-Government system that centralizes almost all relations with the State, I really don’t remember when was the last time I saw an official document in paper. With all 1000+ official agencies involved, you can access and manage over 8000+ services like GDPR permissions, analogue tv frequency infos, paying traffic tickets, state-backed escrowing, fraud checks, my kids grades, my medical records etc within an handsome mobile/web app.

It was shocking to see even my German friends still need to use their physical mailboxes to handle official stuff. I can imagine it’s even worse at the rest of the western world.

[-] digdilem@lemmy.ml 7 points 6 days ago

Much of the UK's regular government stuff is online and very simple too - their website is actually very good. It doesn't integrate everything though. The health service is particularly fragmented and communication is often by post and not that good.

[-] meowMix2525@lemm.ee 4 points 6 days ago

Not sure why you would think Germany is the best in this respect as I've often heard the opposite in my travels there. They are very anti-tech in government, privacy/cybersecurity reasons are what's usually cited.

[-] daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 6 days ago

Same in Spain.

Everything is digitalized and you have the right to do everything digitally. I've never mailed anything to the government.

[-] tetris11@lemmy.ml 3 points 6 days ago

Same in Lithuania.

In fact it's so good, that if you owe the state money, they'll just take it directly out of your bank account...

[-] Ugurcan@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

That‘s nice. We have this forepayment discount with all our taxes and tickets instead :D

[-] BlitzoTheOisSilent@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago

America: our mail system is. USPS processes 23.5 million packages per day, and processes and delivers 318 million pieces of mail every day, to every single household in America, 6 days per week (7 days per week for packages).

They will throw mail sacks onto the backs of donkeys and trek them down into the Grand Canyon to deliver to tribes down there. They will deliver by bike, plane, boat, truck, car, etc. Hell, name any other organization where you could hand someone a letter and $0.62 and ask them to take it to Alaska for you, and they'd say no problem.

"Post" roads in the U.S. are named as such because they were roads built specifically for the movement of "post" across the country, and people have even argued that USPS (then the Postal Service) created the layout of the country as we know it.

And despite what many may think or know, USPS is incredibly efficient when it comes to mail and delivery compared to other countries. I remember them telling us during our orientation (I used to be a mail carrier) that back around 2013, representatives from USPS were actually flown to Germany to teach and help them start delivering 6-days per week. USPS taught Germany how to be more efficient at something 😂

[-] ahal@lemmy.ca 13 points 6 days ago

Canada: we're the best at being annoyingly modest while simultaneously feeling smugly superior.

[-] whotookkarl@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

Also Canada is the number 1 producer of potassium in the world, massive potash mines up in Saskatchewan

[-] ahal@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 days ago

Shh, don't brag about it

[-] julia@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago
[-] weeeeum@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

Isn't the party in power pro Russian? Would make sense then.

[-] boaratio@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

America: deep fried Oreos.

[-] HipsterTenZero@dormi.zone 6 points 6 days ago

It was like a dark an unspeakable revelation out of a cosmic horror novel when I learned that some freaks in the states concocted deep fried butter.

[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

IIRC somewhere over here someone offers Deep Fried Coke. I don't know how one deep fries soda, and at this point I don't want to ask.

[-] Zron@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

It’s just a ball of plane batter with coke mixed in.

Look up a recipe for fritters made with flour, replace some liquid with coke syrup. Easy.

[-] Aceticon@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I live in a 10 million people European country which is the leading cork producer in the World

Also the first European country to explicitly decriminalise drug consumption.

Those two things are unrelated.

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this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2024
128 points (97.1% liked)

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