Ontario, Can. on 10/2 voted with paper ballots - count finished in 1 hr.

[donsu]

http://xymphora.blogspot.com/2003_10_01_xymphora_archive.html#106516635608139568

The boring Canadian province of Ontario had an election yesterday, and the voters finally managed to kick out the right-wing American-influenced tax cutters, replacing them with a party whose main promise was that it would not cut taxes so that it would have enough money to pay for things considered inessential by the previous government, such as health care, education, public security and safety, and the electricity supply. A little sanity in an insane world. The interesting thing is the mechanics of the voting procedure. The election used paper ballots which were counted by hand at each polling station, with the results telephoned in to the Returning Officers, who communicated the results to the media. Ontario is a huge place, with over 11 million people on 415,000 square miles or over one million square kilometers (at the longest points, 1,000 miles high and 1,000 miles wide), and yet this old-fashioned system produced election results in about an hour, with the winner giving his victory speech less than two hours after the polls closed. Since paper ballots were used, and absolutely no computers were involved in the balloting process, the ballots can be recounted at any time should there be any dispute, and the ballots themselves serve as decisive evidence of the validity of the results. When I look at computer voting, I see a system which is in every possible way inferior to the paper ballot system:

-snip-

2. Let's face facts. The voting machine companies are all owned by doctrinaire extreme-right-wing Republicans. If the United States holds fair elections in the next round, the Republicans will lose. The Republicans need these machines. Their main purpose, after making money for their creators, is to cheat.


People should go after these awful voting machines like the Luddites went after automated weaving machines: with sledgehammers. Paper ballots have worked well and have formed the basis for the whole history of Anglo-American democracies (with marked shards in urns going back to ancient Athens), and there is no good reason for voting machines. Paper ballots, counted by hand!
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"11 million people on 415,000 square miles" voted on paper and the paper was counted in about 1 hr.

Kill the Voting Machines!

[Spazito]

1. Not only that....

Prince Edward Island had a provincial election with no power, with paper ballots, all one needs is some candles and a pencil!

[GainesT1958]

3. Wow--you mean P.E.I. still doesn't have power...

After Hurricane Juan hit? Sounds like parts of northeastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia!

And yet, they went foward with an election--pretty brave, and pretty great. Well, I guess it proves you all have the good sense to use something to register votes that's countable in ANY situation. I admit, I used to find it strange that other democracies--and particularly Canada--still used paper ballots to vote, and thought it really inefficient. Soooo much for lionizing the "convenience" of voting machines and computerized voting; I'll sure never make THAT major judgement error again! Neither the Tories nor Liberals could mess with the outcome if they wanted to with that fool-proof system. If we want to see how the OTHER side of things look--manipulation of computerized voting on a national scale--we have only to look south, to Mexico. That is a preview of what Diebold's brass and more than one Bush have in store for us in 2004 if they get their way.

Now we just have to make sure that our side is as resolute as they are up in Prince Edward Island!:eyes:

B-)

[TacticalPeek]

2. IBM . . . . . Its Better Manual

"automated weaving machines"

Brought us the punched card as an information device.

"with sledgehammers"

Looks like paper covered hammer in that battle.

:)

[SidDithers]

4. More detail, for those who are interested in our boring old system...

There are 103 election ridings across Ontario, each with around 80,000 voters - some a bit more, some a bit less. Each riding will have about 200 or so polling stations, though there are sometimes mutliple polling stations in a single location.

For the province:
103 ridings
23081 total polling stations
Just over 4.48 million votes cast
Turnout 55%
Polls closed 8:00 pm
Liberal majority government called 8:23 pm

Sid