Editing Elections in Japan (section)

==Ballots, voting machines and early voting==
[[File:Faulty ballot paper of 1952 Japanese general election 07.jpg|thumb|A used Japanese ballot paper from the 1952 House of Representatives election, in this case spoilt by writing {{Nihongo|"There is no suitable person"|該当者なし|Gaitō-sha Nashi}}. The only thing that is literally "on the ballot" in Japan before a voter votes is an empty box titled {{Nihongo|"candidate name"|候補者氏名|Kōho-sha Shimei}} and usually a text next to it with general notes such as "Please don't write anything other than the name of an actual candidate." or "Please don't write outside the box."]]
[[File:Showa0020 naimushorei0031 tohyoyoshikino1 1.png|thumb|A sample ballot paper for a House of Representatives election according to a 1945 Home Ministry ordinance]]

Votes in national and most local elections are cast by writing the candidate's or party's name on a blank ballot paper. In elections for the House of Representatives voters fill in two ballots, one with the name of their preferred district candidate and one with their preferred party in the proportional representation block. For the House of Councillors, the district vote is similar (in [[single non-transferable vote|SNTV]] multi-member districts, several candidates can be elected, but every voter has only one vote). But in the proportional vote for the House of Councillors votes are cast for a party list (to determine how many proportional seats a party receives) or a candidate (which additionally influences which candidates are elected from a party's list).<ref>Kamiya, Setsuko, "[http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121211i1.html Some election campaign rules outdated, quirky]", ''[[Japan Times]]'', 11 December 2012, p. 3</ref>

Ballots that cannot unambiguously be assigned to a candidate are not considered invalid, but are assigned to all potentially intended candidates proportionally to the unambiguous votes each candidate has received. These so-called {{Nihongo|"proportional fractional votes"|按分票|Anbun-hyō}} are rounded to the third decimal.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Nerima, Tokyo|]] city electoral commission|url=https://www.city.nerima.tokyo.jp/kusei/senkyo/senkyo-faq/hyou.html|language=ja|title=按分票とはなんですか？|access-date=17 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|publisher=kotobank.jp (Voyage Marketing)|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%A1%88%E5%88%86%E7%A5%A8-188611|language=ja|title=按分票|work=[[Asahi Shimbun]] Chiezō (知恵蔵, [[:ja:知恵蔵|(ja)]])|date=21 July 2019 |access-date=17 May 2021}}</ref> For example, if "Yamada A" and "Yamada B" both stood in an election and there were 1500 unambiguous votes: 1000 for "Yamada A" and 500 for "Yamada B"; five ambiguous votes for "Yamada" would then count for Yamada A as 5×1000/1500=3.333 votes, and for Yamada B as 5×500/1500=1.667 votes. The official overall result would then be: Yamada A 1003.333 votes, Yamada B 501.667 votes.

In 2002, passage of an electronic voting law<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://law.e-gov.go.jp/htmldata/H13/H13HO147.html |title=地方公共団体の議会の議員及び長の選挙に係る電磁的記録式投票機を用いて行う投票方法等の特例に関する法律 |access-date=26 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301013014/http://law.e-gov.go.jp/htmldata/H13/H13HO147.html |archive-date=1 March 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> allowed for the introduction of electronic [[voting machine]]s in local elections.<ref>MIC: [http://www.soumu.go.jp/senkyo/senkyo_s/news/touhyou/denjiteki/index.html 電磁的記録式投票制度について]</ref> The first machine vote took place in [[Niimi, Okayama]] in June 2002.<ref>''[[Kōbe Shimbun]]'', 28 June 2002: [http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news_now/news2-157.html 全国初の電子投票ルポ 岡山・新見市]</ref> In 2003, a system for {{Nihongo|[[early voting]]|期日前投票制度|Kijitsu-mae tōhyō seido}} was introduced.<ref>MIC: [http://www.soumu.go.jp/senkyo/senkyo_s/naruhodo/naruhodo05.html#chapter1 期日前投票制度]</ref> In the [[2017 Japanese general election|2017 general/House of Representatives election]], a record number of more than 21 million Japanese voted early;<ref>[[Nihon Keizai Shimbun]], 22 October 2017: [https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO22559560S7A021C1000000/ 期日前投票、2137万人で過去最多], retrieved 9 October 2020.</ref> at the same time overall turnout was low (the second lowest in history), so in 2017, roughly 38% of all actual voters had voted early. For regular/House of Councillors elections, the [[2019 Japanese House of Councillors election|2019 election]] set a new all-time high with more than 17 million early voters,<ref>[[Nihon Keizai Shimbun]], 21 July 2019: [https://r.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO47596530R20C19A7000000 期日前投票は1706万人で過去最多], retrieved 9 October 2020.</ref> corresponding to roughly a third of actual voters in 2019 as overall turnout hit the second lowest value in history.