Voting rants

[dzorn]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/watch-glitch-voting-machine-pennsylvania-171806481--election.html

for those that like the electronic voting.

Denise in MI

 

[pat fan]

Strictly paper here!

Give your name, have them check it off, get your ballot (tri-fold), go to row of booths, go in and put your mark next to the candidate you are voting for, re-fold and go give your name again and put your ballot in the slot of the ballot box while the constable turns the hand crank to pull it into the ballot box that is made of wood with a brass counter/tumbler that counts how many votes get put in. Now you may leave. We don't usually get stickers, but that would be nice. At the end of the night they open the box and count the ballots by hand. It's a small town thing and I like it

 

[Robbi]

We have to show either a driver's license or state issued id.
Sign in
Get in line
Vote electronically

I haven't used a papr ballot since high school. Paper ballots can get "lost".
The other day people voting for Romney said the machine kept defaulting to Obama and vice versa on electronic machines. We remember hanging chads. In the end no method is 100% reliable. The important thing is to vote and hope for the best.

 

[WDSearcher]

First - why do we still have to use large amounts of paper for the voting process?

Second - I am given a private booth to actually fill in the ballot, but after I have to walk back past the line of people waiting and insert the ballot in the machine. The ballot is two sheets of paper with questions on all sides. There is no way of not exposing at least some of the vote. Then the election judge is standing over the machine watching (instructing) how to insert the ballot. I felt like there was no privacy.

You can always vote Absentee -- fill out the ballot in the comfort and privacy of your own home, seal it and mail it.

As for people seeing how you voted -- even if I wanted to see how someone else voted, I'd have to know exactly which tiny little circle to look for in the two seconds that the entire ballot is exposed as it's being fed into the machine. I suppose if you really WANTED to see someone else's ballot, you could. But what does that really tell, in any given precinct? Someone wants to know how I voted -- I'll be happy to tell them!

But really, any given voter probably gets as much notice from the other voters as you'd notice what someone in the grocery store has in their cart.

 

[POPCITY]

My usual polling place has paper ballots, but I did early voting this time, and they had touch screens. I liked it A LOT, very quick and easy.

I don't give a flip about privacy, I would tell anyone who cared to know how I voted anyway.

 

[Christopher Robin]

Nevermind

 

[ICF]

Only electronic here....no paper going in or coming out. Push some buttons and then click submit.

 

[mrodgers]

Same here but no sticker I live in nowhere PA in a town of about 1800 I'm shocked some of you still have paper ballots!

Yeah, so you live in the big city, LOL. I think we have 300 people in town if that.

At least we've graduated to the fill-in-the-dot kind and gotten rid of the punch-out ones. No more hanging chads!

Last Presidential election I punched the paper ballot. After hearing all about the hanging chads from the previous, I made sure there were no hanging chads

I much prefer the paper ballot and always choose it over the totally electronic.

The ease and chance of election tampering increases significantly with electronic voting. It is extremely easy to tamper with electronic voting and no way to check, with paper you have a way to check.

I don't like anything electronic. I can't hear my electronic alarm clock, I can't stop my car with the brakes that electronically take over, I don't like my car electronically deciding if I should be in 4WD or not, I don't like my rear view mirror electronically changing to dim the car behind me after it's too late, then going full strength again just in time for that same car to crest the hill I just crested and blind me again, and I don't like the thought of electronically voting. No one can change a paper with a hole punched into it. Electronics can certainly easily changed with no one knowing about it.

My vote never counts anyways. I always lose in my state and such my vote gets changed for the final count.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

We have to show either a driver's license or state issued id.
Sign in
Get in line
Vote electronically

I haven't used a papr ballot since high school. Paper ballots can get "lost".
The other day people voting for Romney said the machine kept defaulting to Obama and vice versa on electronic machines. We remember hanging chads. In the end no method is 100% reliable. The important thing is to vote and hope for the best.

You have to show an ID to vote!
No ID needed here - just a name and you get a ballot!

Paper ballot (two today).

 

[Diznotyzed]

We are mailed a paper ballot about 3 weeks before election day. We fill them out in the privacy of our own homes and can mail them back or drop them off in secure drop boxes (so no stamp needed). They must be mailed in time to arrive by election day, but can be dropped in the drop boxes up to 8 pm on that day.

 

[HelenePA]

Yeah, so you live in the big city, LOL. I think we have 300 people in town if that.



.

YES!!! I moved from where I grew up (about 1.5miles away). I use to live in a village that consisted of 1 street and on that street I had 3 grandmothers. I had an awesome childhood I'm so not use to "city" life and I'm really not joking!

 

[Jessica14]

We have always had a booth and levers to pull down. Today we had paper ballots and then I had to put it in the machine myself. I just read that a volunteer was taking them from the voter and then putting them in another location, NOT in the box claiming that's not how its counted. And with the touch screens not recording the right candidate, that's fishy too. There should be one standard for the whole country.
Jessica

 

[JVL1018]

Same here but no sticker I live in nowhere PA in a town of about 1800 I'm shocked some of you still have paper ballots!

I, too, am shocked that everyone doesn't have electronic voting booths!
Back when I used to go with my mom ad a tiny kid( I am 41 now) and I think when I first started, there were the booths where you flipped a switch and then had to move a big switch from left to right(or vice versa) to record and reset.

Now and for as long as can remeber in my adult life, it's all electronic, just press your choices and hit the enter button.

Maybe that's why I've never encountered a line to vote in my life?

 

[KingK12]

My voting was done on a machine. It actually was simple and easy this year!

 

[mhsjax]

That's nuts!

May be nuts, but that is how it is done in my area. No problems and it moves fast. YOu don't have to sit there wand wait for people for figure out how to work anything, you simply bubble in your vote. As far as the OP complainging about no privacy, seriously, no big deal. We had a man there giving directions, he just stood there, if he could read what I voted for in that amount of time, then he has super powers and I should have hand written his name for president. This is not worth complaining about, but some people will complain about anything.

 

[mhsjax]

You can always vote Absentee -- fill out the ballot in the comfort and privacy of your own home, seal it and mail it.

As for people seeing how you voted -- even if I wanted to see how someone else voted, I'd have to know exactly which tiny little circle to look for in the two seconds that the entire ballot is exposed as it's being fed into the machine. I suppose if you really WANTED to see someone else's ballot, you could. But what does that really tell, in any given precinct? Someone wants to know how I voted -- I'll be happy to tell them!

But really, any given voter probably gets as much notice from the other voters as you'd notice what someone in the grocery store has in their cart.

I agree, so what if someone sees what you voted for, ( BIG STRETCH) they don't know you and they can't steal it and change it, so what. And trust me, you would have to stick your head all the way over and stare at the ballot. SERIOUSLY. Someone will complain about it no matter what you do.

 

[mhsjax]

You have to show an ID to vote!
No ID needed here - just a name and you get a ballot!

Paper ballot (two today).

Why is that funny?

 

[honeydiane1953]

I went to vote!! "They" couldn't find my name. Got a phone number and website to call. Phone rang off the hook no one ever answered. Now on the website will they want user name and password? This is FOR REAL!!!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Our machines have large paper ballots. We push the box of who we want to vote for, and it lights up a button underneath the paper. It's odd.

 

[sam_gordon]

Our process seems a little too lengthy to me.

1) Walk into the church gym & hand your photo ID to the person sitting at the front table who, in turn, gives you a piece of paper. On this piece of paper, you print your name, sign your name, write down your address, write the date, & check whether you're voting in the primary (dem or rep) or general election. Then, you hand the piece of paper back to the person who checks it for accuracy. (I guess?) This person then points you to one of two tables behind the front table & directs you to the person who is sitting at the section which includes the 1st letter of your last name.

2) At this table, you give the person the piece of paper from the 1st table & show your photo ID again. The person looks for your name in a book. When he/she finds your name, you are directed to sign the book on the blank beside your name. You are given your original piece of paper back & directed to a third table where the ballots are kept.

3) At the third table, you give the person your piece of paper. He/she takes it & puts it in a stack w/ other papers. He/she then gives you a ballot & directs you to sign your name at the top of the ballot. You are then given a folder to go w/ your ballot & directed to an area of tables in the center of the room where voters are voting. There are cardboard partitions set up on the tables.

4) You vote. The ballot is an 8 1/2 x 14" piece of cardstock paper. There are circles besides the candidates' names that you fill in w/ a regular pen - like a multiple choice test!

5) When you are done filling in the circles, you take your ballot up to the ballot machine where you are directed to tear off the top part where you signed your name earlier. After you do this, you slide your ballot into the machine & put the signed portion into a cardboard box.

6) You are now done voting!

And there are no "I Voted!" stickers!

May be nuts, but that is how it is done in my area. No problems and it moves fast. YOu don't have to sit there wand wait for people for figure out how to work anything, you simply bubble in your vote. As far as the OP complainging about no privacy, seriously, no big deal. We had a man there giving directions, he just stood there, if he could read what I voted for in that amount of time, then he has super powers and I should have hand written his name for president. This is not worth complaining about, but some people will complain about anything.

I have no problem with the "fill in the bubble". That's how we did this year (last couple years were fully electronic). It was MUCH faster because multiple people could be filling out the ballot at the same time.

What I thought was crazy was TWO ID checks, filling out addresses, signing your name multiple times, and then tearing off one of the names you just signed.

We sign our name (with ID check), filled out the ballot, fed it into a machine. Done.