By land, air, sea or elephant: 1 billion people across India, Indonesia and Australia prepare to vote by any means
- Indonesia is made up entirely of islands, India has 1 million voting stations to disperse and Australia has to get to extremely remote communities. But officials in all three have a plan to include everyone in the democratic process
Robby, a 30-year-old farmer from a village in a forest south of Kalimantan, will walk three hours each way to vote, staying back afterwards to make sure the votes are counted before heading home.
“It’s far, but it’s worth it,” said Robby, who hails from Juhu village, in Hulu Sungai Tengah regency. “Without a representative, we have no guarantee our voices will be heard.”
His village, as well as surrounding indigenous communities, do not have their own polling stations – a logistical challenge that comes with capturing millions of people’s votes across a country made up of thousands of islands.
Officials across all three countries are stopping at almost nothing to make sure as many voting-age citizens as possible have their say at the looming polls; some sending voting material up to the highest peaks by helicopter, across seas by ship, into rainforests and to remote temples by elephant. Fines for not voting are also being used to boost voter participation.
