Voting done.....hopefully....

[patgund]

Went to my polling place at 7am, voted.

Signs were not up to identify the location as a polling station.

Paper ballot rather than San Diego's new nifty Diebold touch screens. The poll worker tried to convince me to use the touch screens, without any luck. She offered me a "I voted touch-screen" sticker, I said I didn't see a sticker as worth our democracy. She then made a snotty comment about "some people believe what the see on HBO", to which I said I didn't see the documentary in question, rather I'm an IT professional who works with computers on a daily basis and knows what they are and aren't good for.

Found out after the fact that the San Diego Registrar of Voters, who has been REALLY pimping the touch screens to the point the state Attorney General had to order him to make sure he had enough paper ballots ready, does not plan to count the paper ballots until Thursday. This fits with the "Pooh-pooh, don't worry your pretty little head about the touch screens" attitude he's shown from his first day in office.

So I voted, but my vote won't be counted until Thursday. Grrrrrrrr.........

Six touch screens up. Only one working. They had paper jams in several others, setup problems, and they had to reset the one that was in use and force the elderly man to begin over because they forgot to calibrate it. He finally said "I want a paper ballot back", and was surprised to find out he could have asked for one. He did, and said he would urge his wife to do the same. Several other people in line asked for paper ballots. They only had one stand for paper ballots, posted far away from the touch screens. There was a line to use it.

The poll worker who made the snotty comment to me acted more concerned that she have a place during the day where she could smoke than if the equipment she was urging people to use was working. I had to kneel on the floor to put my paper ballot in the box, as they didn't have it on the table, which made it difficult for the elderly to use. (It was a normal bankers box with registrar seals on it and a slot cut out for the ballot. Obviously make-shift.)

Not an ideal start to the day. But I have my "I voted" sticker and my tag to show I voted.

Comments

[valkyrwench.livejournal.com]

Bleah. They are making it as difficult as possible for people to vote.

[cahwyguy.livejournal.com]

Makes me real glad I'm in LA County with the Inkavote Plus.

[jeran.livejournal.com]

I'll be using the paper ballot too. I know computers and audit too intimately. I know just how easy it is to alter results when there's no independent audit trail, and I refuse to trust my vote to a system where you can't validate whether it's reporting the correct totals other than by trusting it to report the correct totals.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

She offered a sticker as inducement to vote touch-screen. What are you, five? [headdesk]

[patgund.livejournal.com]

The SD County Registrar of Voters seems to believe that the voters here are five. He's very dismissing of any concerns about the touch screens, and has done his best to ignore or overlook state law and policy when he could.

The radio on both the right-wing & left-wing talk shows here in SD have reported nothing but problems voting down here today. *rolls eyes*

[buddykat.livejournal.com]

I also requested a paper ballot at my polling place this morning. The response I received was *much* different "Yes Ma'am, no problem". When I mentioned that I didn't trust computers enough without a paper trail, she did tell me that there *is* a paper trail on the machines being used, I compare the printout with what I voted, and the printout totals are compared with the electronically recorded totals. I'm a *little* happier with that, but I still took the paper ballot.

There was only one booth for paper ballots, and the homeowner had cleared off her washing machine so people could use that to vote at, and there was a small line, but I was in and out before some of the people before me who were waiting for touch screens.

While I was filling out my paper ballot, one of the touch screens died while someone was using it. I mentioned as I was leaving that another reason I prefer paper ballots is that they don't break.

The box that my polling place had for paper ballots was also on the floor, but since the ballot was so large, I was able to hold the folder covering the ballot with the ballot sticking into the box and let the ballot drop right into the box with no problems.

No sticker for me....

[fionnbharro.livejournal.com]

I voted last week by dropping my permanent absentee ballot in the mailbox with the proper postage.

My parents voted this morning with a real-live voting booth with levers and everything.

[aeddie.livejournal.com]

Ventura County now uses oversized scantron like ballots. So the individual ballots could be spot checked later if necessary.

[jkusters]

San Diego also used to vote this way. But this election is "new! and! improved!"

I preferred the scantrons, thank you very much.

JOhn.

[ismarc.livejournal.com]

Years ago I worked as a poll officer and if I'd displayed behavior like the woman you described I'd have been publicly executed.

I'm reading all kinds of reports concerning glitches and issues with these damn touchscreen monsters. The most common seem to be regarding calibration issues.

You might want to report those issues that you observed to 1-888-Dem-Vote. Yes, it's a partisan run hotline but at least it is something. I'd certainly report the poll officer's adversarial attitude.

[patgund.livejournal.com]

I pretty much saw the poll worker's attitude as the logical extension of the Registrar of Voters "What, you don't want to use our touch screens? What's wrong with you? Don't you love your country??" attitude

Which will not stop me from reporting it

[jnork.livejournal.com]

Hey Patrick. Wanted to thank you for your analysis, silkensteel and I have been very busy and wussed out by cribbing from your sheet.

Thank you.

[patgund.livejournal.com]

*Laugh!* Not a problem :-)

[selenite.livejournal.com]

The electronic voting machines here are very user friendly with an iPod style control wheel. If they had a paper verification trail I'd like them.