I had the touch screens this morning, but no receipt. I wouldn’t mind it except for that, but I want a receipt. I mean, how can they recount? What if there’s a glitch? I want it to print something out, take a look at it, check it, and stuff the printout in a box just in case.
I miss the Big Gray Machines of Freedom. When I was a kid my mom would take me in the voting booth and pick me up so I could haul on the lever.
Old-fashioned metal ones with the big lever that you yank to the right when you first walk in, flip little switches to indicate your choices, then yank the big lever back to the left to record your vote.
They did something to them for some reason: the curtains no longer move in conjunction with the big lever (WTF?). Doesn’t seem to be a mechanical glitch, the instrux posted inside SAID you have to just dive under the curtain and dive back to get out when you’re done.
Optical scan. You complete the middle of an arrow pointing to your choice. I’m fine with it. When you insert the ballot into the reader, if you messed up it rejects it. Pretty foolproof AND leaves a permanent physical record.
I’ve had computers for the last few years (and punchcards before that), but this was the first year using this system–with the only difference being that we didn’t have a “special” pen, just a standard black ballpoint.
Denver voter here – the ballot (inside a curtained voting booth) was on a single big screen with pressure-sensitive areas next to the candidates’ names or “yes” or “no” responses. After one has indicated their preferences on the candidates and issues, there’s a “Cast Ballot” button in the lower right corner that, once pressed, makes everything final (you can change your vote up until the point that you press the “Cast Ballot” button). I’ve used the same type of machine for at least the last three elections. There’s no written record of my ballot, which is a tad worrisome, but otherwise I’m fine with it.
My wife voted early (last week) and used the same machine that **Frank ** described.
I *do * have a problem with the registration process – I was in line 10 minutes before the polls opened, with no more than 15 people in front of me. I waited in line for nearly 45 minutes while waiting for the people in front of me to be found in the voter database (there were three computers being used to confirm voters’ registration, and eight voting booths – there were never more than three booths in use at one time).
Maybe I’ll vote early next year, but I really like the idea of joining my fellow citizens in (a reasonable) line on Election Day.
Maybe if a huge amount of people voted absentee ,the politicos might get the idea we do not trust them.
Another MN person using the “SAT” style ballots.
The only differce this year is that the scanning machine was at the gym – they used to haul them all to the county seat for tabulation.
Brian
(voter #417)
Our county in Ohio switched to those optical scans like in Minnesota.
One thing I didn’t like was they got rid of the booths and just had flimsy plastic partitions on a table. It was awkward - and erm…had the polls been crowded when I went, I’m pretty sure I would have bene touching the guy next to me.
Plus, the person before me left his big ol’ “secrecy cover” in there and I had to finagle around it.
I also didn’t like the fact that the sheets were two-sided. I have a feeling a lot of the issues won’t be voted on because of this.
I DO trust the scanning process to work more efficiently than other methods…but I am wary of the idea that everyone, especially seniors, will have filled in their bubbles completely.
The folks at the polling place said the lines were out the door from 6AM to 1PM (when I got there). My brother, who arrived shortly after I did, said our precint’s line was 11 deep when he left. It is a very small precinct.
So I am glad so many people voted today.
Does it really matter? It’s not like you have a choice of what machine.
That’s what we’re using. Two large paper ballots, with candidates/issues on both sides of each. Not exactly dropped into the OCR - laboriously fed into the OCR. Still, a good paper trail and little opportunity for fraud.
We had touch-screens with a little plastic card you feed into a slot; after you “check” the boxes for your chosen candidates and whatever else, and confirm your choices, the card pops back out and you give it to a guy who’s wandering around the voting area ready to help people with the new machines (and they are new–I went to the same place for the 2004 election and we had different machines then).
There were a number of signs around the room saying that the machines were tamper proof… but of course you can’t see what’s actually on the little plastic card when you’re done voting, so who knows?
I didn’t realize it, but apparently only about 20% of Denver’s machines are the new ones, and, of course, that was enough for early voting.
I guess I have trust in the others. We’ve had two (three?) general elections on them now, and I’ve not heard anything bad.
I’m interested. So sue me.
Two double-sided ballots (one for elected offices, the other for initiatives and referendums) with bubbles to fill in, a ball-point pen, and a machine to enter the ballots in.
It’s fine by me.
That I was only the 75th voter of the day, less so.
In Pulaski County, Arkansas. Rural area.
Fill in the arrows and scan the ballot.
There was a touch screen machine in the room one could use, but I didn’t want to wait.
I haven’t been yet, but when I go it will be optical scan. Saw the ballot on TV last night - looks like it’s about 18" x 24", doublesided. Pretty typical for a midterm election. (Presidential elections, we often get several ballots to hold all the different questions/elections. In-between elections, not so much. Yeah, we vote for everything down to dogcatcher here, too.)
Fill in the arrow next to your answer with a Sharpie-type pen, carry the ballot over and stick it in the scanner. Beep! and you’re done.
Easy, fast (they usually have a few tables set up with “privacy screens”, but people also use walls, extra tables, counters, whatever - I’ve seen 15-20 people voting at once before in a space nominally for 8 voters; delays are always due to the size of ballots, not the machine), reliable (machine kicks back invalid ballots), and easily recountable.
I’ve been using these machines since 1982 and they work great.
Paper ballot with some kind of optical scan here. I thought it was just one step up from colored bits of pottery going into a common bin to be counted by old guys in togas, but I suppose it works…
-XT
In Washoe County (Reno, Nevada), we had the same equipment we voted on in the 2004 general election - electronic touch screen voting machine with a paper ballot. There were thirteen screens worth of initial voting on Federal, State, and local positions, state ballot initiatives, and local ballot questions. Once you finished this, the machine displayed your votes electronically and asked for you to confirm it. Once you confirmed the electronic display, it printed your ballot on a rolled printer under glass and asked you to confirm the printed copy. Only after you confirmed the printed copy was your ballot official.
I’m very comfortable with these machines.
Lexington Kentucky here: we used a machine called (I think) an eSlate. It is NOT a touch-screen - you roll a large thumb wheel up and down to highlight a selection, then press the “select” button for your choice. Essentially the same primciple as using a mouse, but with the stuff laid out differently and no ability to move the arrow around randomly.
It worked very well, and this was the second time I have used it.
I don’t know what kind it was, it had a touch screen. I was fine with it.
I’m in a rural district in North Carolina, with no big elections this year. My precinct voting is in an old school , and was way different than the last election. Then: i had to wait three hours, sitting on bleachers, to vote on on of three old machines. This year, no wait at all, pretty much tumbleweeds blowing in the old school auditorium, but four shiny new touchscreens available. Very easy to navigate, and paper confirmation on the side, but no paper reciept.
My coworkers in the neighboring county, the staunchly Democrat stronghold of NC, had paper ballots only, no new machines. This is an oddity, because that county is way more populated and progressive with technology overall than my rural county. So, am not sure about the logistics of it all.