I photographed my early-voting touchscreen voting experience

[Nordic]

check it out.

It took three hours. The line was huge. I think they were completely overwhelmed. This was in Culver City, CA.



Here is the machine that you use to vote. Each person gets a little electronic card with your info on it that you then slide into that device on the right. Then you go through the screens, vote, then at the end you get a chance to go back and check them all before it gets recorded to the card.

After that you hand the card to a guy and you leave.

Sure hope I voted for Kerry! I don't know!



Yes, it's Diebold.

Here's a shot of the presidential voting screen. Hm, GWB gets first position. What a surprise! Kerry's way down the list.



Anyway, thought people would find this interesting.

[CrispyQ]

1. NEVER . . .

underestimate the WILL OF THE PEOPLE!!!!


=====

[Booster]

2. Damn. Why didn't I think of taking a picture of how I voted.

What a good idea. This could be the paper trail we all need to prove how we voted - on second thought, I guess you could change your vote after the picture was taken so guess that wouldn't really prove anything, but a damn good idea anyway.

[Nordic]

3. I highly recommend it. Might keep 'em on their toes

:)

[newsguyatl]

4. very good idea!

thanks for sharing, and damn, it's gorgeous where you live!

[endnote]

5. Notice the Diebold logo on the second one.

ALso the "Tampering is a felony" sign.

[thecrow]

6. um... how are you supposed to do a write in vote?

very weird.

[Maiden England]

7. thanks for sharing

I'm really impressed with the long lines! It makes me think the 'L' word!

[Peanut Gallery]

8. Excellent idea - this or video

it's a paper trail of sorts

[endnote]

12. Right, but it has NO legal value.

ALso, you could have taken a picture and THEN changed the vote, I suppose...

[tjdee]

9. Great pics....great camera too, actually...

Those pics are gorgeous, well lit....maybe it's not the camera but the photographer ;)

We don't have touchscreens here, so that was a neat inside look, thanks.

Also...Leonard Peltier is running for President? Ahhh, California.

[Nordic]

28. awwwww........

I'm not sure how to respond to that. But it's nice.

[Elidor]

33. Leonard Peltier? Holy shit! Did he get out?

[City Lights]

10. How do you write-in a name on these machines?

It's interesting to see how different states create their ballots. Here in AZ, the VP names didn't appear on the ballot, but the names of the candidates' electors did.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

11. We don't use Diebolds here in Dallas Co

but they are touch screen and I noticed the same thing. Nader is supposed to be a write-in candidate here in TX, but there was NO WAY you could write him in.

I don't see how you can on touch screen, at all. There is no keyboard, etc. No spot to do it on the screen.

In how many swing states is this happening? If it is, this is good. Nader blocked from votes.

[endnote]

13. Simple: take a marker and write it on the touchscreen!

:D

[George W. Dunce]

15. When you select the write in

the screen changes and you get an on screen keyboard. I saw a demo months ago. Diebold....yukky.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

21. Oh

on ours, there wasn't even the choice to hit write in.

Wasn't even there.

[KittyWampus]

14. Cool Photo Essay!

Thanks, :)

[Rose Siding]

16. Great post!

Thanks for the pix. To see people willing to stand in line so long is moving.

It does suck that Kerry's so far down the screen. I can't think of a single good reason for it to be set up that way.

[Nordic]

18. I was amazed at the line. The photo you see is AFTER I voted

and it was even longer than when I got there. They were supposed to close at 4:30 or so, but I didn't get out of there until almost that time, and you see all the people waiting.

I'll be plenty pissed off if they turned people away!!!

It was a grueling wait to be honest. My feet hurt. :)

[DrZeeLit]

19. California always lists the names in a random order, by using...

...a lottery or draw for position, to avoid the appearance of favoring the incumbent or an alphabetical listing (unless that's how it plays out in the draw).

Or at least that's the way it was when I lived in California.

Kerry On!

[Nordic]

20. hm, Diebold, Bush gets the first position in the "random" drawing ....

I am not confident in the process

[seaj11]

17. Looks familiar!

The screen looked just like that when I early-voted Thursday, but not all those presidential candidates were on the ballot. I believe it was only Bush, Kerry, and Badnarik (in that order on the ballot).

[Iceburg]

22. Thank you for the photos...it's not as bad as SA 1994

But it has only just begun ...


Take heart -- this was SA April 27 1994

[ima_sinnic]

34. wow!! that picture is very moving. amazing.

and what a grand day April 28th must have been!

[BlueCollar]

23. very interesting

thanks for posting...I sure hope that line was full of dems...:-)

[Clinton Crusader]

24. WTF? Why is JK/JE SOOOOOOOOOOOO far down???

[Nordic]

26. yeah at first I thought "where the hell is Kerry?"

because I had to look for him.

Seems kind of wrong

[ciaobox]

39. and Bill Jones at the Top, Boxer at the Bottom

Looks like Assmold groped the voting machines too.

[kentuck]

25. Same machine I voted on today also....

touch screen..

[goodboy]

27. that's a great idea. I think I'll do that too.

[Cats Against Frist]

29. Leonard Peltier is running for president????

Anyway -- good idea to take a picture!

[abumbyanyothername]

30. I was there dude!

It took me an hour and a half to get through at 9:30 a.m.

I did not want to vote touchscreens with no paper record, but I am leaving for Las Vegas tomorrow and won't be back until after Kerry wins the election!!

[Nordic]

38. Hey! I was there in the afternoon. I didn't want to do touchscreen either

but something came up for next Tuesday where I simply won't be able to vote, and since I didn't get an absentee ballot, this was my only choice.

It sucks.

I have no idea if I voted for Kerry or not. Except for that picture

[TheWebHead]

31. thank god for absentee ballots

I just had to walk out to the mailbox. The Washington State permanent absentee system is great.

[DrRock]

32. So, wait...

They spent millions of dollars on these touchscreen machines, and then the machines print out a card that you then hand to someone? Seems like they could've cut out the middle man and saved a LOT of time and money, and just had people fill out the cards by hand. Am I missing something here?

[Nordic]

37. No, they give you an electronic card

like a credit card, that's just for you.

You insert this into the machine. Then you vote. Then you basically hit "record" and it records your votes onto the same card.

Then you hand the card to a guy.

Yes, I really don't see how this is better than a paper ballot.

why not just fill in little circles with #2 pencils?

Well because there wouldn't be a big-ass company making money off of it, that's why.

[Moloch]

35. Leonard Peltier is running for president?

That's kind of cool, anything that brings awareness to his cause..

[AgadorSparticus]

36. I voted 2 weeks ago by mail but instead of mailing it, I walked it down

to the county recorder's office myself (don't want it getting lost in the mail) and I xeroxed it before I sealed it up so that I have some proof of my vote.

p.s. Good Lord, what a line!!! :wow: