Who here misses those cool giant voting machines?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

You know, the ones with the curtains and levers....looks like a giant phone booth.

My parents used them when I was growing up. It was always so cool going inside them.....I always looked forward to using them.

And now that I'm of voting age, what do I get? A tiny privacy divider and a piece of paper. Considerably less cool.

[dr.strangelove]

1. We still had them until 2008 in westchester county NY

I think 2010 was the first with the scanning machines. I love those old machines. I voted in many elections on those machines. I know what you mean, it had a certain gravitas to pull back the curtain and vote, then slam that lever to record the votes. It felt very Wizard of Ozish to be the man votign behind the curtain.

[hollysmom]

2. From what I understand they could be fixed too, but they could not be programmed remotely.

twas never perfect. From what I understand even paper ballots have their limits - there was one county which came in very strongly for Scott Walker taht was found with improperly locked bags of votes like open enough you could stuff votes in there and inFlorida the paper ballot readers were counting votes wrong as well - programming.

[KamaAina]

12. It involved opening up the machine and filing down some gears.

Not that easy to gain that much unfettered access to them.

[hollysmom]

14. exactly, now you can sit at your comp[uter at home and hack the new machines

[NightWatcher]

3. I never got to vote on those

My first election the state had just moved to those 'fill in the bubble' ballots that were then scanned. I had just finished highschool and had seen dozens of those scantron devices.

[geardaddy]

4. I remember going into those with my dad.

He let me open the curtain lever when he was done voting.

[bigwillq]

5. Me!

I loved those machines! Just thought they were cool.

[Lars39]

6. Loved them!

And they're what my kids got to see me vote on, too!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. I liked them. It always felt like you were really doing something.

[cyberswede]

8. Agree!

I like the way you put that.

[fizzgig]

9. colorado had already moved to scantron ballots by the time i was able to vote

but i remember those from going to vote with me ma when i was a kid.

[femmocrat]

10. I do. Those things were RELIABLE!

I remember taking two little ones in with me, a baby and a toddler. Plenty of room! LOL

[Brother Buzz]

11. I miss the automatic vote tallying machine

[KamaAina]

13. Conn. and NY were among the last holdouts.

In fact, the last time i used one was in NYC -- in 2000. Hey, at least my vote counted.

[Yavin4]

16. I miss the big crank at the bottom

Pulling that lever gave you a feeling of power.

[3catwoman3]

15. I was just commenting n the very thing...

... in a thread Mineral Man started about preferring to vote in person. I miss those machines. I liked how it sounded and felt to pull down all the little levers, and there was something very satisfying about hearing the big metallic "CLUNK" when you re-opened the curtain to register your votes.

[Curmudgeoness]

17. I miss them so much.

We now have touch screen computers, and they are flimsy and there is no feeling of privacy with them. That curtain closing when you pulled the handle made you feel like you were doing something great.

I understand why the voting machines went out of fashion when I think of the space it took to store them, and how much it took to move them, but the sense of wonder is gone.

[hifiguy]

18. I loved those old beasts.

Voted on them here well into the 1980s or early 1990s IIRC.

[Cairycat]

19. They impressed the hell out of me when I was a kid

To go in with your mom or dad and watch them vote, then pull the lever, that was a huge deal. I was sorry I didn't get to do that with my kids.

[shenmue]

20. Me