Ohio voting experiences Election 2005

[NoBushSpokenHere]

Please share your experience.


Any other election I would be elated to have seen what I did today, seven out of ten voters were Democrat. Normally rain on Election Day brings out Democrats while Republicans stay home. The evidence of this at my polling place was clear today. It was pouring with rain expected throughout the day today.

The machine seemed to operate fine when I used it, was easy to read, and my votes were clearly cast for the candidates and issues I chose. I could see the little "Paper receipt that isn't" in the window, clearly marked for the candidates and issues I chose. Why couldn't this drop a copy into a box for hand counting???? Why can't I have a receipt of my ballot????

As I walked out of the polling place, I had the thought we are doomed on this issue. The general public without knowledge of hidden source codes and tampering with counts will think the system is good. It is a shame our representatives cannot take the steps necessary to ensuring us the votes will be counted by hand and by machine.

If turnout in my precinct is an indicator (and voters read the issues) we may have some real election reform in Ohio. Sigh. If we could only be assured the votes cast today would be legitimately counted.

[napi21]

1. Tell me a little more about this "little paper reciept"?

I live in Ga. and we were one of the first States to have tough screen voting several years ago. Our machines look like a normal lap top computer, but there's nothion printed. It this some kind of effort in Ohio to show some kind of proof of your vote?

[NoBushSpokenHere]

2. No, it isn't really a receipt - they call it that BUT it isn't

It is rolled up into a tight roll which isn't looked at by anyone. The machine provides an encrypted total which is read by a tabulating computer. To my knowledge no one will look at the roll of votes. It is just a false sense of security someone added to the machine to make people feel they had a valid vote cast. Correct me if I am wrong, DUers?

[helderheid]

14. you are absolutely right. There are no audits in place and the roll is

useless.

[Deep13]

4. register tape.

There is a register tape that the voter can inspect with a physical print of his or her choices. It is visible in a window on the machine for the voter to inspect before committing to hsi choices. The paper tape stays in the possession of the county board of election.

[napi21]

12. Thanks. I've never heard of those on voting machines before.

Now, I would think, if there is an extremely close election, these register tapes could be used!

I was an accountant for a major retailer for 13 years. Although it was rare, we did sometimes have to go back to the master register tape and search for prroof of something. Sometimes it was clerial stupidity, and sometimes it was criminal theft! I've even had to use them in court in the past to prove the theft.

This may not be an ideal answer to voting machine fraud, but it sure sounds better than nothing at all!!!

[porphyrian]

15. The problem with register tapes.

Everybody who's worked retail knows that register tapes are only somewhat useful. What happens if the ink runs out? Do they delay peoples' use of the machine to change the ink? Do poll workers even know how to do it? What about if the paper runs out? If either runs out, and poll workers don't change it before people use the machine again, how can those votes be verified?

[Deep13]

18. Well, sure, they have to be used properly.

I can only hope the regs. require new ink rollers for each election.

[napi21]

21. There are easy ways to eliminate the ink problem.

You know what happens when your own printer runs out of ink...it just stops working until it's fixed!

As to poll owrkers not knowing how to replace an ink roll or "register tape", they just need taught how to do it! I am pretty sure we don't have many rocket scientists working as cashiers in the stores, and they all learned how to do it.

[porphyrian]

22. Well, don't be so certain it's that easy...

After all, many of the delays with the new machines were blamed on poll workers not knowing how to operate them properly. Also, many people who are poll workers are retirees, and many retirees (not all) have problems with new-fangled gadgetry. I was working at an Amoco gas station when we first installed "pay at the pump" equipment. The instructions were written in plain English, everything was well-labelled, and there was even a set of sequential pictograms for those who couldn't read. Half of the people who attempted to use those pumps couldn't do it, some even with my verbal instruction from the "doghouse." This doesn't justify poll workers not being able to correctly operate the machinery, it just emphasizes the difficulty and complexity of the situation. Every part added to a machine exponentially increases its chance of error.

[Deep13]

17. We did not get receipts with punch cards, after all.

And who knows if those little holes actually matched what they were suppose to match on the little booklet. Back in MA where I lived before OH, in our town of 12,000, we were given a big, paper ballot and one of those pencils 1st graders use. We had to make an X in the right box. Obviously, they were counted by hand. A D and R representative looked over the town clerk's shoulder while he counted.

[gmoney]

3. Yeah, but...

I've been trying to get a local Dem voter guide and have had zero luck...

Let's hope I can figure out who the hell is who among all the obscure judges and school board folks.

[NoBushSpokenHere]

5. Make some phone calls and research before you go!

I voted Yes on Issues 2 through 5. Heard a Democrat on the radio saying vote no on 3 and 5 and Yes on 2 and 4, but I put more faith in those who have been battling for election reform than those who haven't.

[insane_cratic_gal]

6. I just want to know if Blackwell is

on the chopping block today?

[MostlyLurks]

8. Not in any significant way.

One of the state-wide issues (5 I think) would strip the Secy of State (Blackwell's current position) of election oversight duties, but would not remove Secy of State as a position, as far as I am aware. So in that sense, no, Blackwell is in no jeopardy at all today.

Mostly

[MostlyLurks]

7. No wait, no problems. 12th Congressional District, OH

I live in a largely Republican area, so it should come as no surprise that I had no wait or delays of any kind (well, except those related to the aged poll workers, God bless 'em).

We had our usual 4 machines - same every election. I thought we'd be using the touch screen computers, but it was the same machines we've always had. They're electric, with a sort of membrane screen with small flashing lights for each candidate or issue. When you punch a candidate's box, their light goes steady and the corresponding light (if any) for the opposite candidate goes out. No receipt or paper trail whatsoever, which never bothered me until what happened in 2000. But that's OK - blinking lights are the next best thing to paper ballots!

I voted wholeheartedly for issues 2-5, somewhat less enthusiastically for issue 1, which I think will probably end up being a huge fiasco, but I suppose I'll give it a chance. Voted straight Dem ticket for local offices. In local news, I voted to turn down the latest school levy (I think it might be the third straight election with a levy) and will continue to do so until such time as Ohio's unconstitutional funding system is redone, as had been legally mandated for a while now.

That's the report from here.

Mostly

[Toots]

9. I wonder if Oregon voters are laughing at the rest of us

They have had "vote by mail" for almost a decade now and the people there LOVE it...No waiting in lines, no trying to find a parking space, no hassles with anyone, time to study the issues before voting... I have yet to hear any negatives, yet constantly am hearing about problems everywhere else...

[WritingIsMyReligion]

10. I'm from ME and I'm slightly laughing at you...

:D :D Everything's paper here, with machine counting. But then they're all hand-counted anyways, at least in my area. Makes sense in a small, unpopulated state.

[Arugula Latte]

16. I'm not laughing.

This is too serious to laugh about.

I have heard, though, that our system in Oregon is not without its own vulnerabilities -- someone could tamper w/ the ballot scanners or something. I'm not very up on the technology/implications, but, so far, the system has seemed to work very well for us.

[helderheid]

20. I was approached to get a ballot initiative in Utah to go vote by mail -

we should do this is every state. Ironically, we'll be voting on Diebold for it. *sigh*

[derby378]

11. Please tell me you didn't use a touchscreen...

From now on, I'm demanding paper ballots no matter what.

[helderheid]

13. thanks for sharing this - I voted on paper for the last time here

Though I will vote paper absentee ballot next time. No DREs for me, no thank you. Even if my absentee ballot doesn't count, I want to make it clear I do not trust a corporation to count my vote on secret software.

[Deep13]

19. 7:45 a.m., northeast burbs, the place was deserted.

Low turnout.

[mongo]

23. Why do you need a receipt?

I think having a paper record (journal tape) of votes is a great thing.

I just hope they are saved for future reference.

Does anyone know what technology they are using in the paper trail?

It looks like it was prited with a crude pin type inked print head, but I'm worried that it might be thermal transfer.

Thermal transfer tapes are easily destroyed by improper storage, etc.

[NoBushSpokenHere]

24. It appeared to be thermal paper but was under plastic, so

I was unable to fully detect the type of paper.

[mongo]

25. That was kind of what I was afraid of

and what I thought too.

I wonder just how hot it has to get to destroy the paper -- although thermal transfer receipts have become illegible in my wallet in just a week or two.

Self destroying evidence - a nice thought isn't it?