I went to vote at my local precinct at 8 a.m. today. I had no trouble finding a parking space. Someone at the entrance was there to greet me and direct me to the proper tables, which were divided according to alphabetical divisions of the voters’ last names. I walked up to the table designated for “I”s and immediately got my identity and registration confirmed and my paper ballot handed to me, without standing behind even one person in line. I then walked immediately over to a voting station, once again with no waiting at all. I looked over my paper ballot. Yes, everything was there. And I already knew how I was going to vote, having studied the sample ballot and articles about the issues and candidates (except for those obscure water conservation district races I had alluded to in an earlier entry). Using the felt pen provided, I then proceeded to go down the simply-designed ballot, filling in the bubbles beside each choice of mine. When I was finished, I fed the ballot into the designated machine (there was an attendant on duty to help me had I had any difficulty with this), got my “I Voted” sticker, and easily pulled out of the parking lot.
I said all of this because I look at my TV screen and see all of these painfully long lines in other parts of the country. New Jersey governor Jon Corzine appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe show and revealed that he had just voted in Hoboken after waiting in line there for an hour and a half. Y’know, people don’t have to make things so difficult. The system employed here in Gainesville, Florida works excellently. I’ve never had a problem voting here. Ever. Why can’t these other places use successful places like my hometown here as models to emulate? One of problems I see is the tendency to use these expensive voting machines instead of using low-tech paper ballots with which many voting stands can be set up to accommodate a big voting crowd. Also, I suspect that there aren’t enough voting precincts set up in some of the most densely populated areas. In my opinion, those conducting the election are welcome to use high-tech solutions when it comes to any phase of the operation EXCEPT FOR actual voting. Within the precinct itself, the process should--no, MUST be as simple and low-tech as possible. Which is how they do it in Gainesville!
How was your voting experience? Which voting method was used, what time of the day did you vote, how long did you have to wait to vote, and what were the conditions at your precinct? Or did you already vote early (if your state permitted early voting) or by absentee ballot?
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New York still uses mechanical-lever machines. I stopped at my polling place, a local school where five or six districts vote, on my way to work at a little before 7 this morning. I found the table for my district, waited for the woman who was there already to finish signing in, and then signed in myself. Just before the woman emerged from the booth, another couple arrived at the table.
ReplyDeleteI went in, moved the arm that closes the curtain, and quickly but carefully flipped six levers: U.S. President, U.S. Representative, state Senator (our current one is running unopposed), state Assembly member, county court judge, and a state proposition. I always worry that state propositions get under-voted, because the levers for them are way at the top left of the machine, far from the central grid of levers for the candidates.
Anyway, I pushed the arm the other way, recording my votes and opening the curtain, and I left, exchanging "Have a good day"s with the poll-workers. Total time was under five minutes -- maybe as little as three.
There was one district that had a queue at its table, but even that was only around 7 or 8 people. Radio reports told of people in Brooklyn who arrived at 6 a.m. to find the queues already a couple of blocks long.