We're Voting In West Virginia Today .. New Machines

[ThomWV]

I voted by computer for the first time today. In these hills of West Virginia its been a paper ballot and supplied Number 2 pencil for the 30 years I've been here.

I immediately voiced my objection. It was a mistake but I did it. The good lady led me to the machine and inserted her custodian's unlocking whatever in hell it was and at the same time gave me instructions. I said this was a crock, I wanted paper. She pointed to the right side. There it was, paper being printed in accordance with my vote. She told me it was the paper that was counted, not the computer.

The first choice offered to me was a selection I had not second thoughts about. So I hit the appropriate button and immediately saw the paper print out one more vote for Robert Byrd to run as the Democrat's candidate for the Senate.

Nothing wrong with the ones the bought in my opinion. I could see the vote as cast or as amended prior to the final commitment screen-touch. The paper trail is there. I am pleased.

I think we have much to thank our Democrat Governor for here.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Hate to burst your bubble, but you have no way of knowing if what

the paper and screen said was your vote was actually counted as such in the 'magic' memory of the machine.

[gkhouston]

2. sad but true

like as not, the paper you saw was the audit trail and would be consulted in the unlikely event of a recount but the official tally came from the innards of the machine and what it recorded may or may not have been what was printed and displayed.

[partylessinOhio]

4. So many tricks, so little time. Sigh!

:crazy:

[MallRat]

3. West Virginia? VVPBs?

She pointed to the right side. There it was, paper being printed in accordance with my vote. She told me it was the paper that was counted, not the computer.

Really? Is the paper counted in WV?

[CrownPrinceBandar]

6. I don't believe it for one damn second.........

Then why use the touch-screen? It seems to me that if they were going to count the paper votes, then why didn't we stick with the old system. I just hope the poll-watchers are being diligent this evening.

I am sad to see the demise of pencil & paper ballots here in WV. Sure it felt clunky, but I came away feeling that the vote I cast was actually being counted, even though I had no proof it was.

[napi21]

5. It's not perfect, but it's better than the Dibold's w/o any paper!

I realize that paper only matters in the unlikely event that there would be a recount, but it's still better to have it exist than not!

You know, I've been thinking about the different voting machines of the past. I voted on some old lever machines in Pa. for almost 30 years! Never gave it a second thought if there was any hankpanky played with the results, but there COULD have been! Voted on punch cards when I moved to SC, and never thought about them having a problem either! Of ocurse in 2000, we found out just what kind of problems really existed with them! In TX, we used paper and a balck pen that was similar to a magic marker and it was fed into an opti-scan reader, and when we moved to Ga. in 2000, we voted on DIBOLD!

I honestly question if there is ANY fool proof voting method! If someone wants to alter the results, I'm sure thry could do it! All we can do it make it as difficult as possible.

[Staph]

7. I voted early on Saturday in Charleston . . .

Using a fill-in-the-bubble-with-a-black-pen-or-number-2-pencil sheet. When done (after also casting my vote for Robert Byrd!), my page was dumped into a big box for my district in the county.

So I'm guessing that Kanawha County votes will be counted by optical scan. I'm not crazy about it, but at least there are all of those pages that could be manually counted if needed.