Voting mechanics

[magid]

OK, so I've only ever voted in MA, and both municipalities I've voted in use paper ballots. Not anything tricky to understand, just basically scantron things: fill in the bubbles and you're done. Just like all those standardized tests everyone has to take these days, so the voters are prepared, as it were. The thought even of using a lever sort of machine makes me nervous, and computers doubly so, since they're theoretically hackable in even more ways. And there's no paper trail.

Please, someone explain why there isn't more standardization in how ballots are made and processed? OK, and why we don't all use a scantron sort of ballot, since it leaves a paper trail, and isn't tricky to use at all.


Nothing about whether the car-repair guys were involved in the election in this post. Or, there wasn't.

Comments

[jwg.livejournal.com]

I believe the law is that if you registered by mail since 2003 they are supposed to ask for picture ID. Other than that they are allowed to ask for id but don't have to and I guess never do.

Some of this is left over from trying to avoid intimidating tactics that prevented people from voting (e.g. voting cards in the south that black people couldn't easily get).

There is this antiquated system of calling out your name and observers can hear it. One of the ideas was that everyone knew their neighbors and .... A number of elections ago I was involved in a poll watching project where we kept track of which registered voters actually voted by listening to the names and marking them on our registered voter sheets and near the end of the day we brought our lists to a phone bank where we called people who we had IDed as supporters of our side who hadn't voted.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Lack of intimidation is good, though (again, as Bitty pointed out) you need to show ID in so many situations these days that it's less intimidating than perhaps it used to be.

everyone knew their neighbors
Well, I did note that the other people in my building voted before me Tuesday, since their names were already checked off on the list of registered voters. Otherwise, not so much knowing the neighbors. Which is less than ideal.

I didn't realize that poll-watching could be so... active. Sounds foolish, perhaps, but I just never thought of that sort of approach.

A lot of this election has made me feel politically naive.