Change your vote after elections?

As far as ideas go, this is a capital one whose time has come: changing one’s vote after elections. Sure, on first dekho, this seems preposterous to those who sing painful paeans to the ‘dance of democracy’, the ‘Kathak of constituencies’, or whatever twist they want to put on people selecting other people to represent them (read: democracy by proxy). But if politicians can change parties after elections — the welcoming party even making a song and dance about new entrants — it would stand to reason that such a facility should also be available to the bloke who sent the politician to a state assembly or Parliament in the first place.

Some states and towns in the US do allow postal voters — who have already cast their ballot by post — a change of heart. In states such as Wisconsin and Michigan, absentee voters can request the local election officer to invalidate their vote and submit a fresh one before a deadline. Of course, this makes the headache of counting even bigger. But then, with more politicians voted for belonging to a party crossing over to another — akin to promoting an employee who then walks to another firm — voter rights should kick in. Of course, in China, they avoid all this confusion altogether: if you want to change your vote after elections, you can invalidate your vote and vote for the same and only party, again.