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Appenzell, Switzerland, 1973

Men of Appenzell, Switzerland, gather to vote on public issues at the annual Landsgemeinde (constitutional assembly).

Most Swiss cantons have abolished the Landsgemeinde in favor of anonymous written ballots, but a few Landsgemeinde are still held, continuing this 600-year-old tradition of direct democracy.

(Text adapted from and photograph published in the National Geographic book The Alps, 1973)

Photograph by George F. Mobley

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