Those eligible to vote in the US elections today

[Tachyon 0]

;) The same thing happened to me at school. Everyone was talking about the election, and I said, "Kerry's conceded", but they thought I meant he was conceited. :)

[Guest STSF Sketti]

Actually, Florida (to my knowledge) has never had that style of voting machine in the state's history. As for our voting, it took me a total of seven minutes to vote...in a county that had almost recording breaking turnout. It isn't that hard to take your finger, press it against the screen to check the name of the person you want to vote for, then click the blinking red light that says "CAST VOTE." ;)

 

Personally, from what I've seen, I think what we have here is a heck of a lot easier than what you have/had. To each his own I suppose. I do think they should look into a nation wide standard.

I wasn't saying Florida has ever had that style of voting machin. I said that, based on the problems Florida had in 2000, it seems that the lever-system would be much better for Florida than whatever they used. Perhaps the bubble ballot is the best, but when you consider elderly people must use the system.. I am thinking of my 82 year old grandmother who would have a pretty hard time staying in that little bubble. The lever is much easier for her.

 

As for the electronic machine.. as someone already stated, there is no paper trail.

 

As for a nation-wide standard - yeah, it'd be nice, but probably will not happen. The authority to determine how a vote is gathered is not left to the federal government. In fact, it isn't even left to the state government. It's left to the individual localities to determine how best to achieve those votes. Constitutional and all, y'know.

[Dumbass 0]

Perhaps the bubble ballot is the best, but when you consider elderly people must use the system.. I am thinking of my 82 year old grandmother who would have a pretty hard time staying in that little bubble. The lever is much easier for her.

As I understand it, there were some bubble ballots used in Florida in 2000 that the elderly didn't know how to use. They simply hand-wrote "Bush" or "Gore" on their forms and handed them in.

[LoAmi 0]

must use the system..  I am thinking of my 82 year old grandmother who would have a pretty hard time staying in that little bubble.  The lever is much easier for her.

 

As for the electronic machine.. as someone already stated, there is no paper trail.

Accessibility is actually the best pro-electronic-voting argument I've seen. With an electronic voting machine, people with visual and other disabilities, have an easier time voting and maintaining a secret ballot. Electronic voting machines are not inherently evil. What really matters is whether voters have confidence that whatever button they pressed on the machine is going to result in a counted vote, and that it will actually be for the person they voted. It can be made possible by requiring:

 

(1) a paper backup/receipt that the voter can verify, then place in a regular ballot box, in case a recount is necessary. (The company that made a lot of the voting machines, Diebold, made claims to some states that they could not produce a version that printed a receipt. It's the same company that makes ATMs; strangely, they didn't say the same thing to banks).

(2) that all the code that controls the voting process be audited for bugs and security by competent elections officials or independent consultants; and that it is verifiable that the audited code is actually the code running the machines on election day. (This standard is similar to the one used by the Nevada Gaming Commission for gambling machines). In the best case, the code would be open-source, so that any concerned voter could test it for him/herself.

(3) that all transmissions to and from the voting machines be encrypted and secure, and that votes are stored on a secure server and backed up frequently to write-once media.

(4) that voting machines not provide any "default" vote for any election or ballot question (the default should be blank/no vote).

 

These aren't really excessive conditions, and they'd go a long way to ensuring confidence in the process, accessibility and reducing the error rate.

 

This quote appeared today in an

article on CNN.com:

"According to an MIT/CalTech study, 8.2 percent of touch-screen votes in senatorial elections between 1998 and 2000 were lost -- more than any other system except lever machines, which lost 9.5 percent of votes."

Edited November 5, 2004 by LoAmi

[Vex Xiang 0]

I'd like to see automatic voting registration...instead of registering, checking in, etc, I just swipe my drivers license through the machine and vote away.

[DaryusZaphodDracal 0]

We have the new electronic thingie's down here in Louisiana. I went into the booth, made my selection's (with the appropriate beeps and boops. Said a quick "make it so" and pressed the cast vote button. Very simple and no nonsence way of voting. ;)

 

Zaphod,

"I purr, therefore I am."

[FredM 0]

I'd like to see automatic voting registration...instead of registering, checking in, etc, I just swipe my drivers license through the machine and vote away.

Hey there,

 

I don't think it would make one bit of difference. Even with this election, a solid 1/4 of the country didn't bother to get off their rear ends and vote. That is a sad, sad, sad thing.

[Dumbass 0]

Hey there,

 

I don't think it would make one bit of difference. Even with this election, a solid 1/4 of the country didn't bother to get off their rear ends and vote. That is a sad, sad, sad thing.

True, but the number of non-voters is usually closer to 1/2.

 

I personally don't think we are doing the country a favor by encouraging people to vote if they have no idea what they are voting for.

[Vex Xiang 0]

Even with this election, a solid 1/4 of the country didn't bother to get off their rear ends and vote. That is a sad, sad, sad thing.

 

That doesn't sound too bad to me. Isnt regular voting turnout somewhere around 18%?

 

I personally don't think we are doing the country a favor by encouraging people to vote if they have no idea what they are voting for.

 

Exactly. There were several people on the ballot that I voted for just based on their partisanship. Oddly there didnt seem to be an obstain option on my electronic voting machine, the first person was automatically hilited.

Edited November 5, 2004 by Vex Xiang

[Grom 0]

Exactly. There were several people on the ballot that I voted for just based on their partisanship. Oddly there didnt seem to be an obstain option on my electronic voting machine, the first person was automatically hilited.

Funny thing is... the "None of the Above" option in Nevada produced 3,600 votes...good enough for 11th place in the popular vote. In fact, here are the election results according to popular vote (Note: Write-ins not included...source: CNN.com). Even the prohibition candidate got a few votes in Colorado. :)

 

George W. Bush- 59,291,463

Republican

John Kerry- 55,756,030

Democrat

Ralph Nader- 397,604

Reform Independent

Michael Badnarik- 380,048

Libertarian

Michael Peroutka- 130,533

Constitution

David Cobb- 105,966

Green

Leonard Peltier- 21,616

Peace and Freedom

Walt Brown- 10,283

Socialist

James Harris- 6,760

Socialist Workers

Roger Calero- 5,281

Socialist Workers

None of the Above- 3,646

Thomas Harens- 2,365

Christian Freedom

Bill Van Auken- 2,085

Socialist Equality

Gene Amondson- 1,900

Concerns of People

Charles Jay- 1,824

Personal Choice

Stanford Andress- 731

Unaffiliated

John Parker- 245

Liberty Union

Earl Dodge- 122

Prohibition

 

A few funny facts...

*The combined 3rd party total does not add up to even 1%.

*Peltier (taking 7th place) was only on the ballot in California and is currently serving two consecutive life sentences in Kansas. He is also a strong advocate for Native American affairs.

*Roger Calero (10th place) is not even a naturally born US citizen, thus preventing him from ever holding the office of the Presidency according to the US Constitution.

*Michael Badnarik and David Cobb were both arrested during the 3rd Presidential debate. They were protesting their exclusion from the debates. Both crossed the police line and were immediately taken into custody.

*Michael Badnarik was present on 48/50 ballots, Nader 34/50, Cobb 27/50, Peroutka 37/50

*Peltier (CA), Andress (CO), Dodge (CO), Harens (MN), None of the Above (NV), Parker (RI) appeared only on one state's ballot.

*Kerry received more than 80% of the vote in DC (talk about electoral Gerrymandering ;) ).

[aswe 0]

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