posted on December 11, 2000 07:02:30 PM
I'm forty years old, so I've voted in 6 Presidential elections. Here in SC we use the punch card ballots. And I know for a fact that I have never examined my ballot to make sure the chads were properly punched out.
Anyway, it simply never occurred to me to check and no one has ever mentioned it to me. I poked the stylus through, of course I did it right. But did I?? Who knows.
So - I'm curious. How many people here actually double-check their ballot? Did someone tell you to do so?
posted on December 11, 2000 07:08:10 PM
I'm in California, I don't know how it works in other states, but....
I wouldn't say I was *taught* to vote, I did however read the instructions that were plastered over one entire wall of the voting booth (in large print, in English and Spanish). I kinda considered it my 'duty' as a voter to read them.
The instructions covered how to insert your ballot into the mechanism, told you to punch clear through, and then as the last instruction something to the effect of 'check your ballot to make sure that all the holes are punched clear through and deposit it in the ballot box'.
posted on December 11, 2000 07:22:20 PM
I vote Illinois and we use those puch card thingies also. I have always used the double stab method of voting. I punch once and then pull the stylus back half-way and stick it through again. I can sleep at night knowing full well my vote has no hanging chads, no dimples, and my intentions are clearly punched on the thing.
As for being taught how to vote can't remember attending How To Vote 101. But I have seen poll workers help people get the card in and use the stylus correctly.
posted on December 11, 2000 07:35:09 PM
Believe it or not...I was taught in grammer school. I grew up in Conn. and there they use a booth where you pull levers.
I now live in Florida, and was never told how to...but, we don't use the punch cards here where I live...it is the paper ballot where you darken the circle.
posted on December 11, 2000 08:58:54 PM
Nope, barbarake, and until all this came up I never gave my ballot card a second thought after punching my choices.
Of course that won't be the case any longer, and I'll be surprised if we don't see lots of people scrutinizing their ballots before they hand them to the poll worker.
'Course, even better would be the elimination of any paper products from our voting processes. Leahy and Hatch today said they intend to hold hearings on the subject with the intention to provide states with funding to bring their voting equipment into the 21st century. Thank goodness.
posted on December 11, 2000 08:59:14 PM
I was taught to vote in Miami FL Jr High, with those huge lever machines.
Here in Alabama we use a black marker to connect the line.
[ edited by victoria on Dec 11, 2000 10:17 PM ]
posted on December 12, 2000 04:44:37 AM
Just before they hand you your ballot here in Escambia County (the OCR, complete-the-line system), the pollworker actually DEMONSTRATES how to cast a vote, using a special candidateless dummy ballot.
While voting in VT and MA, where the big flip-the-lever machines were used, I saw pollworkers ask voters if they knew how to use the machines or had any questions, and demonstrate to anybody who expressed doubt as to how to use them.
The thought of a "paperless" voting system scares the bejeezus out of me, and I'm perfectly comfortable with e.g. doing my banking online. If something (such as an embezzler more talented than my hapless father) wreaks havoc with the bank's software and I haven't got paper documentation, I'm out some money (and not that much). If a voter or candidate challenges the count, accusing software error or outright hacking, and there's no option of a manual recount or (as in the case of the voting machines) a paper tape to manually check, THEN watch the fur fly in a game of he-said she-said. No thanks.
posted on December 12, 2000 06:39:19 AM
"Paperless" doesn't mean "internet," which in IMO is decades away from being reliable enough to entrust with any election, let alone a national one.
Rather, "paperless" refers to the computerized system currently in use in some parts of the country.
Think ATM machines. Touch the spot on the screen that represents the candidate of your choice. No overvotes, no dimples, virtually no voter error. Instantaneous results. No recounts or re-recounts.
The problem is it's expensive, which is why until now we've been stuck with 1960s technology, except in wealthier regions. I'm hearing encouraging rumblings, though, that the federal gov't. is going to help the states find the money to replace the cursed Vote-A-Matics. Hallelujah.
posted on December 12, 2000 06:51:58 AM
barbarake - "How many people here actually double-check their ballot? Did someone tell you to do so?"
I always have checked and there's been a time or two when it's been still attached by only one corner.
The voting booths have instructions that tell voters to check...I did.
posted on December 12, 2000 08:53:45 AM
In my state we use just about every type of voting systems; the punch ballot, the levers, the 'fill in the square with a #2 pencil' Mine happened to be the fill in with pencil, read by optical scanners.
I was never taught to vote, but do remember watching and seeing the voting machines in grade school a million years ago, and they were the lever ones.
I am not sure about internet voting, its been talked about, I would like to see some sort of more 'modernized' voting, such as a monitor screen, as few places started using, I think its the cost, and up to each county.
But after this election, you bet there is going to be a try for getting 'better' voting systems, or universal types.
posted on December 12, 2000 09:19:42 AM
We use the punch card to vote. At our precient voter education is 100%. When handed your ballot they say " Please check the back of the card to make sure the holes are clear or your vote want count". You can also receive help without leaving the booth by just pushing a button.
