Diebold machines STILL can't get the screen to match the sample ballots!

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I almost voted "yes" on something I wanted to vote "no" on and vice-versa. The Diebold machine I voted on (in San Diego, CA) simulate the look of the sample ballot mailed to me. However, not everything is on the same page of the screen that it is in the booklet. I discovered this before I was almost done.

Prop 85, which I wanted to vote NO on, appeared at the upper left corner of the screen, while in my sample ballot booklet, Prop 84 was on the upper left of the page. I had marked "Yes" for 84, and at first touched "Yes" on the screen, but then suddenly realized I was voting "Yes" on 85. I quickly corrected it, but went back through the entire ballot to make sure I had voted correctly.

Why can't they program it so the items on one page of the sample ballot are the same items that appear on one page on the touch-screen device? They have plenty of room on the screen for whatever is in the booklet. Is it that hard to program? I wonder how many other people were tripped up by this?

With the names of candidates, it's hard to make a mistake, because you are touching the actual name. But with Yes/No propositions, it's easy, if you are going through the pages, to just touch the yes/no based on what you marked in the book - but if the propositions are organized differently on the screen compared to the booklet, it's very easy to touch the wrong one!

When I was done, I heard another voter complain about the exact same thing. Is it too much to ask to make the touch screen match the pages in the sample ballot exactly? When we used punch cards, the ballot holder matched the sample ballot exactly.

[Kutjara]

1. Well, it could be because they don't give a damn...

...how you voted, since they're going to fabricate the entire ballot anyway.

Or they could just be incompetent.

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2. I'm going to write a letter to the Registrar of Voters about it.

I don't see why they can't make the touch screen match the pages in the booklet exactly.

[Kutjara]

3. Very good idea. I hope everyone who experiences...

...irregularities writes to the Registrar. It's the only way we can begin to fix this broken process.

[rumpel]

4. please also report to organizations

this can lead to major tallying errors