We should Federal Ballots, counted by hand the first-time.

[Eric J in MN]

Picture this:

On the days of federal elections, people only vote in federal races, which means a maximum of 3 races.

They vote by marking an X in pen next to the candidates of their choice, then drop the ballot into a transparent ballot box.

After voting ends, the ballot box is opened in front of ordinary citizens and the media, and 2 Republicans and 2 Democrats count the votes.

[oscar111]

1. video camera: ten days of voting:foreign, or UN observers

and also have minor parties count.

other ideas also may be needed.

Would save cost of the machines and storage for them, so not costly.

Have foreign observers make surprise appearances at unannounced locations... since probably cant get enough to see every precinct.

[AP]

2. Too slow. If they were trending the wrong direction, it would give people

time to make things disappear.

I like an instant electronic count so that we know the results within minutes of the close of polls, and then a an auditable trail so that you could double check the resutls if you wanted to for any reason.

So, how about a no-software/all-hardward machine that prints a ballot, which you can check, and once OK'd it drops into a box. Nobody can touch the ballot (it drops behind glass. If you approve the ballot, the electronic counter counts it.

When the polls close, poll workers secure the boxes, and report the tally off the machine to the registrar of voters. The number of votes can't exceed the number of people who signed in to vote. You have the ballots in case someone wants a recount.

[Eric J in MN]

3. If the count were public, they couldn't just throw out the ballots (nt)

nt

[AP]

4. ?

[Telly Savalas]

5. Unless I'm mistaken...

that's pretty much what they do in Canada, and Canada's elections run about 41230895672350865.34 times smoother than those in the U.S.

Oh yeah, Canada also has this radical policy of hiring enough poll workers and having enough polling stations so that people don't have to wait in line for 5 fucking hours to exercise one of their most basic rights.

[Cookie wookie]

6. Having electronic voting machines is a waste of

taxpayer money, does not deliver quick results (look at how long it's taking to count and recount and audit this election. Yes, the technology like TruVote and Avante where the voter verifies the printed "receipt" which goes into a lock box without being touched is the best idea for electronic, touch screen voting, but why bother with the machines in the first place. How long would it have taken all those people to vote in Ohio and Florida if they didn't have to wait for a machine to use? If each precinct counts their paper ballots on site and records it, then they could email the results to the main election offices if everyone is in such a big fat hurry. After all, the documentation would all be there so when the state elections division posts the results, precinct poll workers could immediately verify if those totals are correct.

The time and maintenance and money for machines is a stupid waste. And if the voter verified paper ballots are there for a recount, great, but why not get rid of the middle man, or rather machine.

I've spent nearly 2 years researching and working on the issue. We need the vote and vote counting close to home and not involving any IT techs in precincts messing with machines, any certification agencies, any memory cards, any worry about power failures, any worry about "glitches" in software that may not be caught so a recount may not be even allowed.

Paper and pencil. One, two, three....