cellio | thoughts on election day (not about candidates)

Voting reforms I would like to see (unlikely as they may be):

1. No "vote straight party" options. The right to vote is important and was hard-won; it is not too much to require that you actually vote for candidates.

2. All voting is write-in. If you can't bother to learn, or write down, some approximation of the names of your chosen candidates, why are you voting for them? All reasonable permutations of spelling accepted (to be determined in advance for each candidate). Nice side bonus: it might reduce negative campaigning, which repeats the opposition candidate's name all over the place...

3. No handing out of campaign literature at the polls. Signs are fine (at distances specified by law), but no hand-outs that subvert #2 and create a waste problem.

The goal of all three: a more-informed electorate. When asked who you voted for you should be able to say something more specific than "the Democrat". It might take a little longer to vote and a little longer to count the results, but isn't it worth it?

And finally:

4. Ranked voting, so that people can vote for perceived dark horses without feeling they've implicitly voted for the greater evil among the front-runners. (You see this all the time -- "I'd like to vote for X, but the bad guy is ahead so I need to vote for the less-bad guy who could actually win instead". So other parties get few votes and the cycle continues.) There are merits to both the Worldcon-style "Australian ballot" (do Australians actually vote that way?), where you keep eliminating the lowest vote-getters until a majority emerges, and point tallies, where top position is worth N points, next on N-1, and so on, and most points wins. Either scheme is better than what we do now.

Now that would be an enpowered electorate!

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browngirl, who knew I'd find this interesting. I'm recuperating today from nearly 19 hours working at the polls yesterday with a sprained ankle and a crick in my neck, so forgive me if I'm a trifle incoherent.

I can't tell you how often people complain to me about having to touch in or ink in the oval next to their candidates' names. "It was so much EASIER in the OLD days!". And sure as hell, people come in and bemoan the absence of the punch cards. I told one man yesterday that he had clearly never seen a stack of punch cards actually BREAK a computer, as I have, and that he probably wouldn't enjoy going back to waiting three days for full election results as we used to have to do.

I swear to the gods that people would use ANY method of voting if we just gave them back the ancient booths with curtains that creaked open when you pulled down a lever. They loved those.

As for write-ins...If you do that, you need to raise funds for your governments to get 1)very, very sophisticated handwriting recognition software 2)an army of staff and 3) be prepared to wait at least a week for your election returns.

I would mostly agree with you on number three, except for the simple fact that often people do take the list of party candidates and use them as a voting guide. I always vote early, due to the fact that I'm working on election day, so I take in a printout of my ballot or a hand-written cheat sheet, then I take it home and put it in my own recycling bin or use the one at the Board of Elections.

How about this...Every single electioneer MUST have a recycling bin with him or her, and must collect literature from exiting voters. Signs MUST be removed from outside the polling place no later than closing time (7 p.m. here in Missouri) or fines will be imposed. If the fines are amateur ones, the fine will be imposed on the candidate or on the organization supporting the measure.

No thoughts on #4. I may not have enough brain left to consider it.

I would gladly wait a few days after every election if it meant that we could truly verify the results. Security on the electronic voting machines is a joke, and even if votes aren't altered, they're not reliable, and they don't fail gracefully.

Somehow, in much of the world, including modern, industrialized nations, they make due with paper ballots. Many countries simply count the votes at each polling station in public. Representatives from each party verify the vote and keep their own counts. Any member of the public is allowed to watch the counting.

People who want to help protect the sanctity of the vote are desperately needed on the front lines, i.e. at the polls. Running those machines and protecting the data in them while it's at the polls is desperately important, as is making sure that people have a chance to vote. Are you actually committed enough to give a few days per year to the cause of free and fair elections? I can't imagine that any state would turn away an intelligent and aware volunteer.

I was surprised to discover this year (too late to act) that, with advance notice, my employer gives paid time off to work the polls on election day. My (retired) mother works the polls every election day, so I may have to ask her what that entails.

Seriously? I know where Bob will be next year. Our kids think Election Day is a minor holiday. (Of course, his working at the polls would impede the traditional post-voting family breakfast at Eat 'n Park, which would probably not be popular...)

As for security, I also (because of Bob, mind you) do not trust the electronic voting machines, and having more physical security really does not enter into it. I'm not worried that the votes are going to be tampered with by people _outside_ the machine.

As for the "people like to have the curtain around them" issue, I am one of those people. The facts that two people walked behind me while I was voting, that those panels on the side of the touchscreen aren't enough to obstruct the view of a tall (or leaning) person if the machines have to be closely spaced, that our voting area (an elementary cafeteria) is not large enough to really spread out the voting "booths," and that everyone knows at a glance who is standing at the machine that is beeping because of a write in vote bother me. A lot. I feel very exposed.

Interestingly, my complaints led to a big discussion about whether or not you should be guaranteed private/secret voting. Apparently it initially met with resistance in the United States, in a "you must be a coward if you want a secret ballot" kind of way. But that's another issue.

--Pamela

Seriously?

Yeah. Sometimes it pays to read the corporate newsletters. Now, given the way the company is structured, whether any particular location will go along with that hit to overhead hours is anyone's guess, but it's worth a try! (The policy requires 30 days' notice to one's manager, FYI.)

I would be bothered if I thought someone were able to tell who I, specifically, voted for too. (For the same types of reasons that I think votes to unionize a workplace should remain as secret ballots.)

This is a very good idea. I'll be contacting the local bureau of elections to see what I need to do (or, since the election just ended, when to contact them again).

Thank you for the suggestion!

Hello, and thanks for commenting.

I can't tell you how often people complain to me about having to touch in or ink in the oval next to their candidates' names.

Yeah, some people will complain about anything, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't do it. I mean, it would sure be easier on lots of us if they would just mail a ballot to my house and come collect it afterwards, too, but that doesn't mean anyone's going to listen to me. :-)

As for write-ins...If you do that, you need to raise funds for your governments to get 1)very, very sophisticated handwriting recognition software 2)an army of staff and 3) be prepared to wait at least a week for your election returns.

The implementation I had in mind for write-ins is actually type-ins, but yes this would slow down the counting. I'm ok with not having instant gratification.

I would mostly agree with you on number three, except for the simple fact that often people do take the list of party candidates and use them as a voting guide.

I wouldn't bar bringing in materials at all; anything you want to bring in yourself is fine. You don't have to memorize your write-ins either; bring a list. Or the guide from the League of Women Voters or your favorite newspaper or whatever.

How about this...Every single electioneer MUST have a recycling bin with him or her, and must collect literature from exiting voters.

I could get behind that.

thoughts on election day (not about candidates)

#1 has been implemented in Missouri, and people find it VERY annoying

Re: #1 has been implemented in Missouri, and people find it VERY annoying

May I make a suggestion to you, since you're so concerned about security?

Re: May I make a suggestion to you, since you're so concerned about security?

Re: May I make a suggestion to you, since you're so concerned about security?

Re: May I make a suggestion to you, since you're so concerned about security?

Re: May I make a suggestion to you, since you're so concerned about security?

Re: #1 has been implemented in Missouri, and people find it VERY annoying