I know the Cambridge system, though loved by political professors, is a pain to count on the ground. All those signs asking for people's #1 vote, and few who don't pay attention to Cambridge's quirks know that that's what they're doing, and why.
I can see that people would like results faster, but I read too many early stories about places that were adopting touch-screens in the last months before the elections, and how easy they were to get around, which just scares me. Tying them in to the registration system has the potential for making political litmus tests, or otherwise linking specific people to their vote.
*nod* about the expense. Heck, if the size of the paper were the same, I'd wonder about using school scantrons :-).
Which is not to say that our voting is perfect. As Bitty pointed out, I just walk in, give my address and name, and I get a ballot, no ID of any sort required. If I can read upside-down fast enough, I could, in fact vote early and often. I don't know that there have been any issues about this, but it seems sound practice, especially when there were signs all over the T reminding people to bring ID anyway...
Tangent: apparently, in the midwest you get a sticker when you vote, a la blood donation sticker. Part of me wonders at the extra expense, part of me wonders if that encourages more people to vote, and part of me just wants a sticker :-).
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Date: 2004-11-04 04:54 am (UTC)I know the Cambridge system, though loved by political professors, is a pain to count on the ground. All those signs asking for people's #1 vote, and few who don't pay attention to Cambridge's quirks know that that's what they're doing, and why.
I can see that people would like results faster, but I read too many early stories about places that were adopting touch-screens in the last months before the elections, and how easy they were to get around, which just scares me. Tying them in to the registration system has the potential for making political litmus tests, or otherwise linking specific people to their vote.
*nod* about the expense. Heck, if the size of the paper were the same, I'd wonder about using school scantrons :-).
Which is not to say that our voting is perfect. As Bitty pointed out, I just walk in, give my address and name, and I get a ballot, no ID of any sort required. If I can read upside-down fast enough, I could, in fact vote early and often. I don't know that there have been any issues about this, but it seems sound practice, especially when there were signs all over the T reminding people to bring ID anyway...
Tangent: apparently, in the midwest you get a sticker when you vote, a la blood donation sticker. Part of me wonders at the extra expense, part of me wonders if that encourages more people to vote, and part of me just wants a sticker :-).