Bizzare Palm Beach ballot: Election night 2008

[Mugsy]

Run time: 01:13 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh6PCSNf8e0   Posted on YouTube: November 09, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: November 10, 2008 By DU Member: Mugsy Views on DU: 2049

 
NBC News on election night shows Palm Beach, Florida's Election Commission reviewing Absentee Ballots and tossing out the ones that didn't fill out the ballot according an an unnecessarily obscure method.

Someone must work overtime trying to think up ways to make the ballot more confusing for Florida seniors every election.

[The Wielding Truth]

1. Why would anyone approve such a loony ballot?

[Umbram]

3. It's pretty damn easy to use.

Seen it elsewhere in the country before. I don't feel terribly bad for people that couldn't figure it out.

[The Wielding Truth]

16. It is unusual and if it is not explained, I can see problems.

[Naythan]

8. that's how it was...

for many years in Minnesota. It was that way in '98 when I first voted, and it was that way in every election until a few years ago when we apparently changed to a "fill in the oval."

Me personally, I preferred the arrow. Made it seem a bit easier to review my ballot.

[The Wielding Truth]

15. Unless it was explainned well, to test takers this would be very

confusing.I've never seen anything like it, and most scanned tests have a circle that must be filled in.:shrug:

[MindMatter]

2. Why can't we have some national standards about these things?

We have national standards in thousands of areas. Why is it even possible for some rogue election official to create such a bizarre thing?

Let's get some laws enacted that end this once and for all.

[TheEuclideanOne]

13. Yeah, call it the "Florida AssHat Election Reform Act" . Any other suggestions?

[elleng]

4. This is an 'absentee' ballot. Don't know how it compares with others.

I haven't heard a single complaint from anyone.

[sandnsea]

5. That's my mail-in ballot in Oregon

I haven't heard that there have been any problems with it here.

[Pastiche423]

17. Do different counties have different ballots?

For the past two elections ('06 & '08) we had ovals to fill in. Before that, it was the arrows.


Off topic - I voted for the person I told you I wasn't going to vote for. Thanks again for making a donation to him!

[sandnsea]

19. Aw, that's terrific!

We used to have oval ballots, and then the last two elections, we've had the arrows. :silly:

It would be interesting to know why both counties switched to what the other was using.

We also had our counting software go down for 2 hours. I don't know if anybody is looking into that because I don't think that is ever acceptable. I'm just glad we have paper ballots to hand count if we ever need to.

[Divine Discontent]

6. and WHYYYYYY is a simple dot fill-in not good enough? why make a stupid assed ballot!

that's so ridiculous to make it like that ---- seriously, they were trying to screw up the Jewish vote (if I have my counties right in FL) for Obama... they try every damn way they can to ruin votes.

[The Political Jerk]

7. This guy misrepresents that type of ballot.

We have them in Madison. You just have to complete a line, which makes sure you are lining up your mark with the right candidate.

This guy makes it look like a coloring contest.

Plus, these are optically scanned. If you screw it up, the machine spits it back out at you and a poll worker helps.

[TheEuclideanOne]

12. Yeah, I agree that it does seem to be pretty easy

and the fact that a poll worker helps if it gets kicked back seems to make it a relative no-brainer.

But...

My other response is.....Really? You couldn't just use the format that everybody in the planet understand? Mark the circle. You really had to go with something new and experimental? You ALWAYS have to be different even knowing that the last experimental version potentially swayed the election? Really? You are that comfortable with taking the risk that if it works great, if it doesn't, you could sway the election again? REALLY!!!?!?!?!?!?! What is next, drawing a donkey or elephant for the party that you want?

[Bushies gotta go]

9. DAMMIT!

Why in the hell is about 50% of the videos I try to view on DU,linked from YouBoob, "no longer available"? Is it my stupid-ass, overrated, worthless Hughes.net satellite system or are they taken off due to censorship by YouBoob? It really is a pain in the ass.

oh.. and lets have a word from our sponsor.... Hughes.net sucks big time... overpriced, very low bandwidth allowance and very poor reception half the time... if you ever have a friend consider signing up for it... talk them down.

[Career Prole]

18. Dunno, but I just watched it apparently after you tried

so censorship is off the table (this time). :shrug:

[Bushies gotta go]

25. thanks, gotta be my lousy satellite service.

[Cali_Democrat]

10. Oh. My. Gawd.

What a joke of a ballot!!!!

[ksimons]

11. when i first saw this, i thought - why not just make the ballot a crossword puzzle ?!!!

This is as ridiculous as one could imagine. After ALL THE BALLOT PROBLEMS, why this is still going on ANYwhere in America?!!

[democrat0986]

14. this is how the ballots are here in alabama

first off, it's not that hard. second, there are directions on the ballot.very simple. i don't understand what the problem is here. it's a broken arrow. obviously, you are supposed to connect the lines to finish the arrow.

[sce56]

20. I did not hear anyone crying about it here just look at the directions

Funny I kinda liked it they have that exact same type of ballot here Sequoia systems you mark the lines then when you have it scanned into the machine it tells you whether or not it is accepted and is rejected if you did not vote or over voted etc. The only thing is it is recorded electronically and where it gets tabulated is the location for voter fraud! But here the poll official takes the whole thing back to the county recorders office no electronic transfer of these votes

[FlaGranny]

21. Every voter got

a sample ballot well ahead of time with very clear instructions and clear instructions were on the ballot itself. It was very easy.

[caraher]

22. It's not a bad ballot

I've used those for over a decade. You just complete the arrow, and it's a lot simpler and more reliable than worrying about whether you've sufficiently blackened an oval.

The clown who did the TV report could have (were he interested in facts and not sensationalism) procured a sample ballot. What they used looked something like this from what it sounds like:


It is NOT confusing!

[1corona4u]

23. Exactly...

this was a bad report to start with. There was nothing wrong with the ballot, and the same balot is used in many states. As far as DU'ers go, they just like to jump on shit, because they believe everything they hear on the tee vee...but it seems to me that we here in Florida were trouble free, while it took a number of OTHER states days and days to get their votes tallied....

[Best_man23]

24. I like the fill-in-the-bubble ones

Most of us have been filling in the bubbles on forms since, oh Grade school?

[JTFrog]

26. Next election you'll just have to draw a picture of the candidate you wish to vote for. n/t

[dbmk]

27. Can they throw the ballot out, even if the intent is marked clearly?

We can debate whether the right way to fill it out is clear or not.

But when apparently write a few have problems, isn't it these peoples job to judge whether the voters mark is ambigious? Not whether it follows the intructions to the letter?

[mcjackson]

28. illinois ballots...

...are like this. extremely easy to use.

[newmac]

29. Rethuglicans approved those ballots......

To make it as COMPLICATED as possible for seniors to cast votes; in the belief it would help republicans. Its what they know; its what they do.

[nyc 4 Biden]

30. Next we will have Connect the Dots to cast your vote...

At least it will prevent against drunken voting.