The Red Brick Times

Here in Li'l Rhody we use optical scanners. You get a great big card with all the candidates and issues listed. Each item has an arrow at the right hand side with the middle section of the arrow missing. Voting for an item involves connecting the two halves of the arrow with a marker pen. The completed ballot is then fed into a machine for tabulation and then deposited in a locked bin if the need for a recount should arise. Its pretty straight forward and solves most of the problems that need to be solved - Ability to inspect the ballot before it is cast - instant electronic tabulation to feed the media frenzy - a physically marked, retrievable ballot for recounting and archiving.

When I walked in the old fellow at the check in table said "Hi, Tony where's Duffy?" before I got to the table and yelled my name over to the recorders at a separate table. I stopped long enough to sign my ballot receipt, was handed my ballot as I walked by, entered the marking station and marked my ballot being careful to stay inside the lines, went to the scanner and inserted the ballot. The poll worker at the scanner said you could put it in either side up and I asked if that was beause the votes had already been counted. He laughed. I collected up my dog outside, had a heated discussion about the Sentate candidates, said a brief hello to Senator Jack Reed who was having coffee at the corner deli before going to vote and went to work.

I don't if know America's all that great, but Jamestown, RI is OK by me.
Posted 10:53 AM by A. O. (1) comments

       Comments:

Until May 2006, we used the little punch tickets with all the potential for hanging chads, and butterflies and other insect species. I never had a problem turning the card over the making sure that the holes were punched through, and that the chads had shed. In fact, I rather liked the tactile, solid feel of the paper giving way as I viciously pierced through its heart with a metal pin. FORCEFUL voting at its best. No more complicated than coloring between the lines, and elegant in its simplicity. No tabulation at the polling places though. All the punch cards were counted at the Board of Elections HQ later. Change is life.

# posted by  Andy : November 12, 2006 3:10 PM
 
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