One more province: the Single Paper Ballot is law in Mendoza

In recent years, Argentina has made significant progress on the political reform agenda. The reform of the funding law, gender parity in legislative lists, the mandatory presidential debate, the extension of suffrage to adolescents aged 16 and 17 and the introduction of open and compulsory primaries are some of the advances made in recent years.

In some cases, some province pioneered, leading a movement that spread to other districts and nationwide, informing debates and pushing reforms. The passage of the law that adopts the single paper ballot in Mendoza may reignite the debate about the voting instrument in national elections and its possible impacts on equity in access to suffrage and electoral competition.

Provincial reforms can serve as a spearhead and inform debates at the national level. In 2004, for example, Santa Fe passed the law that implemented the PASOs after repealing the slogan system, five years before it was enacted nationally. Santiago del Estero (2000), Córdoba (2000) and Rio Negro (2002), advanced reforms that promoted gender parity fifteen years before its treatment and approval in the National Congress. Since 2011, Santa Fe and Córdoba have used the single paper ballot and Salta, the electronic ballot, instead of the traditional party ballot. On the latter, Mendoza will now be able to add new arguments and experience to the debate on the voting instrument at the national level.

Non-election years provide a timely context for assessing the advantages and disadvantages of potential political reforms. They provide an opportunity to carry out in-depth discussions on elements of the electoral system and their impact on political rights and representation. In this case, the instrument of issuing the suffrage.

The voting instrument links citizens' preferences to the electoral offer. Through this medium, citizens are able to transform their preferences into votes and support. Hence the importance of discussing the conditions for ensuring equity in access. When the State assumes the provision of the offer through an official voting instrument, it ensures that the lists of all political parties reach each polling place. This equates the conditions of competition for parties, which do not depend on their scope and territorial coverage to ensure the supply of ballots in all centers on election day, and also equalizes voters' rights across the territory by ensuring that everyone has access to the offer complete in the darkroom.

Discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the current voting instrument, especially in terms of the political rights of citizens, and of all competing political parties, is one of the remaining challenges of our national electoral system. Mendoza is now facing, after the adoption of the Single Paper Ballot law, the great challenge that its implementation represents. The issue continues to advance in the provinces. It is now necessary to start the debate at the national level.

* About the authors: Carolina Tchintian is director of the Political Institutions area of CIPPEC and Gonzalo Vronkistinos serves as coordinator

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