What America Can Learn From India’s Weeks-Long Elections

Keep the Faith, Even If Results Are Slow to Come In—‘Democracy Delayed Is Not Democracy Denied’

Americans have long been accustomed to knowing the results of elections by the time they go to bed on Election Day. This year is forcing them to realize that’s not necessarily the norm. Democracy, unlike candy, does not come out of a vending machine delivering instant gratification. And that’s a good thing.

In India, the world’s most populous democracy, there isn’t anything like an “Election Day.” There’s an election schedule.

India’s 2019 general election happened in seven phases over more than a month, and it took almost another week after the last …