Polling places turn to paper ballots after glitches

Lord Borg · **Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:23 pm**

It would seem they do. Besides the fact anyone could mess with the result, it also seems that no one can seem to fix any of these problems.

Republican_Man · **Tue Nov 07, 2006 6:51 pm**

lol, what if Man of the Year became something of a reality? This sounds like it came right out of it...

ILoveHarry · Admiral Joined: 14 Jan 2004 Posts: 7909 Location: Houston

Personally, I like the computers. Yes, I'm old enough to have voted with this new way as well as the old way. I hope the machine voting won't be taken away everywhere.

Puck · The Texan Joined: 05 Jan 2004 Posts: 5596

I voted using the computer machine and it was very easy. I just selected to do straight party ticket and was done. No problem at all.

WeAz · **Tue Nov 07, 2006 7:38 pm**

The main problem is security, not ease of use...

ILoveHarry · Admiral Joined: 14 Jan 2004 Posts: 7909 Location: Houston

Anything can be tampered with.

TrekkieMage · **Tue Nov 07, 2006 8:28 pm**

Yeah, I think they were preemptively put out for use. Until they are *much* more secure, I don't want to vote with one.

And I mailed in my paper absentee ballot a week ago ^-^

ILoveHarry · Admiral Joined: 14 Jan 2004 Posts: 7909 Location: Houston

Paper can be just as easily tampered with. If not more so.

TrekkieMage · **Tue Nov 07, 2006 8:37 pm**

Yes, but the data is not permanent lost if there's a glitch. And they can be recounted.

There's a double-edged sword for both electronic and paper ballots, it's just that at the moment the list of cons is shorter for the paper ones.

Lord Borg · **Tue Nov 07, 2006 9:05 pm**

Nothing can be worst then the Florida thing back in 2000, with the whole hole punch thing. That was pretty stupid, IMO (Wait...not in 2000? I dunno) but the counts, recounts and the even more counts was retarded. Can't tell what it was? Skip the vote. That's really it, anyhoo...BOT.

The Computer ones just isn't thought out enough. It needs to be desighed, programmed etc... Tested....

TrekkieMage · **Tue Nov 07, 2006 9:13 pm**

The butterfly ballots were dumb, I agree. However, there are better ways to do paper ballots.

Republican_Man · **Wed Nov 08, 2006 2:22 am**

Yeah, about those voting problems...There are still people in Douglas County waiting to vote. One man got there at 6:30 and it's 11:20 and he's still waiting to vote! And not only that, but the races are pretty much called now.

Lord Borg · **Wed Nov 08, 2006 2:41 am**

That's pretty sad.

I am interested in how he is still there though, good for him, eh? I wouldn't have stood around that long, though. (Despite wanting to vote!)

Republican_Man · **Wed Nov 08, 2006 2:41 am**

Yes, good for him, and apparently about 100 people ahead of him at the time...

Lord Borg · **Wed Nov 08, 2006 2:47 am**

Yeah, you've got problems though when someon goes in at 6:30, and almost 5 hours late, he is still there waiting. Even during the peak voting hours, thats BAD, lol.

Hitchhiker · **Wed Nov 08, 2006 9:08 am**

I am a big supporter of online voting because I am lazy.

And why shouldn't I support it? Is online voting any less secure than giving out one's credit card number to Amazon or another online company for some shopping? Oh yes, they tell you that they won't give out the credit card, but there is never any way to physically guarantee that won't happen. It all comes down to a matter of trust.

That's essentially analogous to the democratic process as well. Paper or electronic ballots, it's all the same thing: ultimately someone behind the scenes could be pulling the strings and rigging the election. There is no way to know for sure. The only real consolation is that the people doing this are probably so experienced at it that they are better equipped to choose the next government than the public anyway.

Voting is purely an act of faith no matter what type of ballot one uses. From the scant amount of news I've heard regarding these electronic ballots they seem to usability issues as well, which is a different story. I'm all in favour of them, though, as long as those bugs are worked out and there's enough paper ballots for every citizen stored in the storage room, well away from potential sources of fire and water damage.