I Voted!

[Joe Smith]

Originally Posted by deth502

our county has the electronic one too, as far as a paper trail, the machine has a "0's sheet" printed in the morning, to verify there are no votes on before the election we are there to oversee the machines all day, and at the end of the night there is a final tally receipt that comes out w/ all the totals, like a register recipt, so there is actual record of what was voted, for any malfescence, the local election board themselves would have to tamper w/ the machine, and i dont think most are capible, frankly. so, barring actuall machine problems/glitches, it should be pretty secure.

your county may vary, though

This will be a scary video for you then....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzPXer7946E

[XD45]

i'd like to see you get a receipt that you put into a lockbox on the way out after you sign it to say yes these are my votes, that is then sent off to a separate location to be hand counted..


EDIT: actually have you sign the receipt, and a stamp or something that only a set number are made of, one for each polling place so the people transporting couldnt get one... If they count the votes from the computers as a recount and the computers where messed up your not going to find out there was a mistake, so if you have 2 separate locations calling in a vote they should match perfectly...

[soberbyker]

Just got back from my voting booth, exercised my right to vote.

[LittleRedToyota]

Originally Posted by XD45

EDIT: actually have you sign the receipt, and a stamp that only a set # where made, the # of polling places... If they count the votes from the computers as a recount and the computers where messed up your not going to find out, so if you have 2 separate locations calling a vote that should match perfectly...

the problem with that, unless i am misunderstanding you, is that your vote would no longer be anonymous.

as a computer programmer, i do not at all like the idea of not having a paper trail to back up these systems. i'm not so much worried about intentional fraud, but bugs...especially since the company that writes the code won't let anyone else see it (unless that has changed in the last year or so).

all you would have to do is have the machine print out your vote on paper...you look at it and say "yep, that is right" and then drop the paper in a locked box. then, if there are questions as the accuracy of the vote count, those paper ballots could be counted. if there are not questions, they never need to be counted.

printing a paper tally at the end of the day is useless to protect against bugs. the software is going to report the same tally on the piece of paper that it reports electronically. if there is an error in the vote count, the same erroneous results will be reported both ways, so comparing the two won't enable you to spot the error.

there have been cases in previous elections where multiple precincts reported the exact same results (high unlikely to not be an error). there have been other cases where a precinct reported more votes than the number of registered voters in the precinct...obviously an error. there have been other cases where, due to user error, the electronic vote counts were erased before they were reported and there was no backup...obviously a problem though not the fault of the software.

all software has bugs (and all software users are prone to errors as well). if the software is really well tested, those bugs are not likely to cause any substantial errors, but how well has this software been tested?

the trend in the industry is to rush to market without adequate testing, and, given some of the issues that have been reported, it seems the company that wrote this software might not be any different from, say, microsoft in that regard.

[Shawn.L]

For a long time I didnt vote. I figured if voting could make a difference it would be illegal. Then I grew up some, and started to care more about the world I live in. A friend of mine told me "People have given their LIVES so you could vote, and you disgrace them every time you stay home." That was enough for me. Now I have not only my life to think of, but in growing up I have also my family, and the future of our country. I do not want the people of tommarow to look back on me as lazy, who did nothing, who would rather watch mindless TV then stop the fall of liberty.
The world needs more active participants. I dont care if you believe the same things as me or not, so long as you participate and allow me the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDRA3XFfDr4

[XD45]

i def wasnt thinking of voter confidentiality with signing your name.. I guess you could still do it just use an automatic stamper that only the polling places have so they can't give them a fake set, then in the lockbox it goes..

[NineseveN]

Originally Posted by buckmulligan23

For a long time I didnt vote. I figured if voting could make a difference it would be illegal. Then I grew up some, and started to care more about the world I live in. A friend of mine told me "People have given their LIVES so you could vote, and you disgrace them every time you stay home." That was enough for me. Now I have not only my life to think of, but in growing up I have also my family, and the future of our country. I do not want the people of tommarow to look back on me as lazy, who did nothing, who would rather watch mindless TV then stop the fall of liberty.
The world needs more active participants. I dont care if you believe the same things as me or not, so long as you participate and allow me the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDRA3XFfDr4

Well, in the grand scheme of things, you may be right...if voting could change anything, it would be illegal.

[dogngun]

I voted today about 2PM. I was number 157. I thought that was pretty good, but I found out there are nearly 900 registered at my polling site.
I have not missed an election, even a local election in about 15 years, and don't plan to miss any in the future.

Mark

[Shawn.L]

Originally Posted by NineseveN

Yeah, I was sadly in a hurry and didn't feel terribly mischievous today.

I actually did write in Ron Paul as opposed to voting for Dan Onorato :-)

[XD45]

i just voted, i was #164