This raises a distinct question in my mind:
Should voting mechanisms be standardized?
I voted in Piscataway, NJ, where we used machines similar to the ones described by Mr. Cynical. My machine didn’t play music at the end, though.
I actually didn’t know that voting machines were not used everywhere. Every place I have ever voted had them. Frankly, paper ballots sound weird and archaic–and exotic–to me.
Thanks for the responses, gang. I didn’t realize that there were so many different voting methods in this country (and abroad.
I spoke with my mom today, and she said that the machines they use in New York are about 50 years old, and not manufactured any more.
By the way, Gunslinger and Homer, where did you vote?
FP, have they changed systems recently? Seems like the last time I voted in Orange Co., which wasn’t too long ago, it was much like the system Dire Wolf was describing.
In Nashville it’s a lot what SterlingNorth described. Problem was, you couldn’t really SEE the buttons hidden behind the paper, so it took a while to figure out where to push. Once I felt around and found the buttons it was pretty easy. (I got to do early voting on the 1st, so I didn’t get a sticker 
)
FP, after re-reading (geez I need to do that more when I post), I guess what you describe is what I remember after all.
I was really surprised to learn that different places used different voting methods. Until this year, I had always voted in NY, in a curtained voting booth with the little switches. I guess I just assumed that it was the same everywhere. When I went to vote here in Massachusetts, and was handed a large piece of cardstock, I didn’t know what to do. The procedure we use here has been explained earlier in this thread… draw a line to complete the little arrow next to the candidate name you want. I was wondering how those are tallied. Is there special ink in the magic marker that they gave us to use that can be read by a machine? How would it read the write-ins? Can it possibly be a group of people counting up the votes by hand? That seems so antiquated in this day and age.
Rose
Gregg county, TX, county courthouse, early (Nov. 2nd).
Gregg county: vote early, vote often :D(yes, dead people and their dogs could vote 3 times each here up until the early '80s)
Still using paper ballots in NW suburbs of Chicago. Any system where it’s possible to vote for more than one candidate for a given position is pretty lame, IMO.
I voted in Howard County, MD, where the norm is paper ballots disturbingly reminiscent of Scan-tron tests I sweated over back in school.
I’m in Los Angeles County, CA, which I read today is the largest (most populous) county in the US that currently uses punch-card ballots. (Seeing as how it’s the most populous county the country, period, I guess that’s a given. :)) Omniscient’s description of punchcard balloting is identical to what we have.
The only thing I want to add is that (here, at least) you can double-check after you’re done that you voted correctly. Each punch-out is numbered. The ones you punched are gone, obviously, but so few of them are actually used that it’s easy to see what numbers you punched. Those numbers also appear on the ballot themselves. If Bush was #11, for example, I could check my ballot after I’d removed it to ensure that hole #11 had, in fact, been punched.
I did just that, mostly to make sure that I hadn’t mis-aligned the ballot underneath the booklet. It would be pretty hard to do, but double-checking struck me as wise.
For those inquiring: My district’s HQ was the VFW hall in Freeman, Mo (pop 800) about a mile from my farm, in my hometown.
–Tim
This talk of mechanical voting machines makes me wonder: is there really a physical “ballot”, or does the machine simply keep a tally?
It doesn’t sound like there would be much to “recount” if it were called for.
There’s a very interesting piece in the New Yorker (ok it’s a comic strip but it’s very informative) about the guy who maintains all of NY’s voting machines.
Why wouldn’t they make any more? I thought (an I think Billdo and Blue Twylight might agree) they’re pretty easy to use and very…satisfying. You pull back the lever and churchunk you’ve voted. Much better than this year when I got a piece of paper with little ovels, like I was taking my SAT.
And more importantly, obviously, with a machine that won’t churchunk if you vote for more than one canidate, you wouldn’t have to throw out a lot of ballots.
I glance at the thing, make a few erratic marks, then picket in front of the election office when the candidate I was thinking about at the time isn’t elected. This method seems to be catching on this year.
I just heard that 40% of the country uses punch cards!!!
FORTY PERCENT!
And 15-20% uses the standardize test “Fill-in-the-bubble” ballot!
I’m amazed!
I’ve been there for the opening of the machines. The machines have various counters on the back (covered with a sealed plate while the voting is going on) indicating the number of votes for each candidate. When the votes are “counted” the totals from each machine are viewed and listed by the election officials. There are no ballots as such.
When we have a recount, two things happen. First the machines are re-exained to make sure that the vote totals match what was reported. Second, the absentee ballots and ‘affidavit’ ballots (paper ballots submitted in cases where registration or voting eligibility are disputed) are examined and tallied.
Once they finish dumbing-down America, yes, they’ll have to. I’d say that Florida is nearly there.
I encountered a voting machine similar to yours except that you pressed a button by the candidates name which lit up a red circle. At the top of the ballot you could vote by party (Republican, Democrat or Libertarian) which would light up the candidates names automatically, except for President/Vice President. That button you had to push yourself. (Even judges and sheriffs are party affiliated here.) Or, you could go through elect each candidate individually on the ballot.
If I remember correctly, the green button would page forward or backwards in the multi-page ballot and the red button cast your ballot. There was even the option of reviewing your ballot before casting it. Once the ballot was sent the screen read “Printing…”, though where it was printing, I have no idea.
This was my first time voting in NC.
In Britain we use a ballot paper. You give the official your name and they tick you off on the electoral roll and give you a ballot paper. You go into a little booth, put a pencil cross in the box next to your chosen candidate’s name, fold up the paper and post it into a metal box.
With effect from the next Parliamentary election (which might be next Spring), the ballot papers will also include a symbol for each of the parties. You can see an example of the new-style ballot paper at the bottom of this page.
Votes are always counted by hand and in each constituency the returning officer makes a public announcement of the winner, with all the candidates on stage. You get to see the immediate reaction on the losers’ faces, which is sometimes priceless. Although the media do exit polls, we don’t rely on them for the result. Most of the 659 constituencies have usually declared a result by about 3.00 a.m. There’s a certain amount of schadenfreude here about the failure of the US’s flashy, automated voting system when compared to our reliable, but low-tech version.