"Everything went well, but
the system is definitely out of date
."
Thus a scrutineer outside the Bolognese polling station for the foreign constituency at BolognaFiere, where the ballot papers from 17 European countries arrive.
It is the first time that the ballot papers of the nearly six million Italian voters residing abroad are divided between the headquarters in Rome and other decentralized offices.
In addition to Bologna, which receives part of the cards of the division a) Europe, also Milan, Florence and Naples.
"We have these big books - explains Emanuele, a scrutineer, to ANSA - for each seat we have about twenty as big. Inside are the names of those who voted".
Each envelope contains in order the names of residents abroad with voting rights.
When the ballot paper arrives, which only contains the voter's identification code and not the name, as explained by Marta Gambino outside BolognaFiere's pavilion 14, the scrutineer's task is to mark whether the voter or electrician has voted correctly or not.
"Basically when you open the envelope - explains Marta - you have to check all the packages".
"It's a very old-fashioned system - another scrutineer on break complains outside the polling station - we have been here for over nine hours for 700 ballots".
"Do you think - she concludes - she can even reach up to 900 envelopes. She is physically tiring too".
