Amazing turnout in a small precinct in SC.

[watrwefitinfor]

About 3 pm I cast my vote in the South Carolina primary. It's a mixed party primary - you choose whether to get the Dem or Rep ballot.

My county is about half and half, black and white, with a smattering each of Indian, Hispanic, and Asian. My precinct is a very small one, it reflects about the same population ratio. It usually goes Dem, but not by an overwhelming majority.

I signed in today on the sign-in sheet (for Dems). I was Dem voter #50 for the day. I noticed the Rep sheet beside it had one name in the first space at the top. I asked if that was the only Rep voter today, and the attendant grinned back at me and nodded.

There was also an "Advisory Question" on the ballot to support legalized medical marijuana. Also one to support accepting all federal revenues offered to support Medicaid and Medicaid expansion efforts in the state. Great. But advisory only.

I guess if we get our Dem governor and legislative majority those will get considered. But those blasted machines and no paper trail . . .

Wat

[moriah]

1. Do your machines not at least print an audit trail?

One thing I'm glad for is Arkansas sprung for machines that had a voter-verifiable audit trail that printed next to the touchscreen. They could see if it wasn't calibrated right and was printing an incorrect vote, and could see it print when they changed their mind if they accidentally selected the wrong candidate.

Doesn't make fraud impossible. People would hate going through those paper rolls like store receipts every time there was a true recount. And just because those of us responsible for making the process work have double checks to know how many voters came in, and can make sure the totals for the precinct when written on the big board match what the machine said before we leave to keep tampering with online systems minimal, we have no idea if there was a way to program in advance based on how many people voted that the machine would report a certain percentage a certain way.