Lessons from Berlin's electoral do-over

It's election time in Berlin, again.

Why so soon?

Last time around, it didn't go so well.

For starters, election day was the same day as the Berlin Marathon. So, half the city's streets were closed for the runners, snarling up traffic.

Some voting stations ran out of paper ballots, forcing people to wait hours to vote. When new ballots didn't arrive, some stations photocopied blank ballots.

If the ballots did arrive, they were often meant for other districts. But they were used anyway, meaning people voted for politicians who weren't running in their district.

Some voting stations closed early, which is not so good.

Other voting stations stayed open far longer than allowed, which might seem good, but isn't.

The courts threw the election results out, and ordered a prompt do-over. Although some argued they should stand. I haven't heard a good reason why. 

Germany may be a country with a reputation for efficiency, but Berlin is not like the rest of Germany. The same things that make it interesting—it's urban wildness, chaotic energy, warped history—also make it hard to run.

But, while the rest of Germany shakes its head at the hijinks of its capital, I'd like to call a time-out and point out that this whole fiasco is a good thing. Let me break it down:

• We know something went wrong with the election.
• It went to court.
• The courts overturned the election results 
• The city is now rerunning the election.

In places far less democratic, if something like this electoral flop occurred, things might've looked different. There might've been a cover-up, or the problems would've been ignored, or labeled as "fake news."

What makes a democracy truly democratic isn't a well-running machine — although it helps — but when mistakes happen, we know about them from a free press. We're able to demand change through an eco-system of civic groups and respect for freedom of assembly. Independent courts uphold the law, even if it runs against the interests of our elected leaders, and institutions implement the court's ruling and correct the mistake.

An autocracy needs the appearance of being well-run, even if it isn't. So, there's no free press to point out mistakes, no civic groups or freedom of assembly to demand change, and no courts to uphold the law.

The best sign that you're living in a working democracy country is that you know when it isn't working, you're allowed to say it doesn't work, and you can try to get it fixed.

There's a lot of people out there who don't have that luxury.