So, you get to your voting place. Then what happens

[yvr girl]

What's the process. Do you have election workers? Who hires them? Does each candidate/party have observers? So much of what you do is different than what we do up here. I was wondering if this goes down differently as well.

[TrogL]

1. US or Canada?

Presumably you know the Canadian system but I can babble on about it if you want.

[bryant69]

2. Well the procedure (in Leon County FL)

First you you stand in line to get a ballot. They take your drivers liscence or picture id, look up your name on the voter rolls, and then give you your ballot (assuming you are on the rolls) and a little orange piece of paper. You have to have a ballot based on what school board or city district you live in. Then you go to a little booth and fill it out. We have the optical scanners here, so it's just like taking a multipul choice test, only with a pen. Then you take the list to anotehr woman, give her that little orange piece of paper (I guess to connect the two, then go around and slide the ballot into the voger box (which is like a big box with a slit on the top that takes your ballot--kind of like a cash taker on a vending machine?) Then you leave. Oh and protesters and demonstraters aren't allowed to hang out and tell people how to vote. They can, but only outside a certain distance from the polls.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[yvr girl]

3. I know the Canadian system

Who are your poll workers working for. Also, are there scrutineers?

[bryant69]

6. There are cops around--but they are more like bailifs

And I only saw three of them? One outside oand two inside. They are volunteers I think.

[greekspeak]

8. hey Bryant

Did we pass at the courthouse?

[Demit]

4. In PA: there are 3 people at a table; you give them your name; they look

you up in a binder to make sure you are registered to vote. One of the 3 people is the "Judge of Elections", who is the overall supervisor of the polling place on election day. The J of E has to be elected by the community in a previous (primary) election; they serve for 2 years. I forget what the other 2 people are called (they are recruited to work by the parties and receive a small stipend for the day) but one records your name and number in a running tally of voters that day. The other one gets you to sign a receipt, then compares your signature to the one in the binder. In addition to those 3 official workers, each party is allowed to have a poll watcher present to observe that everything's kosher. Poll watchers have to submit a request to be one in advance of the election.

Outside of the polling place is where the parties' grassroots elected officials are allowed to hand out literature and so forth--and by law they must keep a certain distance away from the entrance. If they come into the polling place for any reason they can't bring any party literature or buttons with them.

Where are you and how is it different?

[yvr girl]

5. I'm from Canada

First of all, it's uniform across Canada for federal elections. We generally vote in school gyms etc. You are greeted at the door. If you have a registration card mailed to you by Elections Canada, the greeter will just direct you to your specific poll station.

Once there, you give them your card. One looks you up in a book, and crosses you off the list. The other tears out a ballot, removes the counterfoil and gives it to you. You then wait for an available booth. You then go mark your X and return to the table. You can put your vote in the box yourself, or the returning officer will do it for you. Each candidate can also have observers watching the process.

If you don't have your card, you can still vote, but you need to jump through more hoops. You need to have ID and proof of citizenship and residency. This happened to me once. I needed to go to a larger poll station where they had access to a larger voters list (other districts.) I got approved, and I think I needed to sign something. I then took my approval, and went back to where I was supposed to vote. It wasn't very far away, a few blocks.

The big difference with us, is that we still use paper ballots - X marks the spot.

[gpandas]

7. fortunately, dems rule where i vote...

many races are uncontested. they got no chance here.