Do you vote electronically or not where you live?

[mvd]

We'll get a glimpse at how big the Diebold problem could be. Here in Montgomery County, PA, we do use electronic voting machines - and I'm concerned.

[NMDemDist2]

1. we use optical scanners here, Bev says they are questionable

too, but at least half use absentee ballots, so at least we know they are counted---- by optical scanner...

[maxanne]

2. we use pencils

and paper ballots, counted by friends and neighbors here in small town NH. I am profoundly grateful.

[Crachet2004]

7. Ditto here, in rural WV...and I think everyone in the country should...

Do it the same way. The ladies around here run the polls, and never in history, has there been a problem. Plus, they are all very, very nice.

Even in the cities, you could have more polling places, closer to where people live, and get more volunteers to handle all that paper.

I even wonder if those machines really even save the taxpayers much money...I'll bet they don't.

[NMDemDist2]

8. therein lies the rub, volunteers are all but non existent

they never have enough people to work the polls here in Phoenix

[Crachet2004]

11. I have lived in cities, and the impersonality of it all IS a problem.

But that is why I wondered if perhaps having MORE polling places would'nt help? In metropolitan areas, they centralize for efficiency, and as you said probably for a lack of volunteers.

Here we vote in schools, volunteer firestations, anywhere and everywhere. Often I think, the people associated with the particular building pitch in...everyone knows each other...an advantage of downscaling. In a gradeschool, the pta might pitch in. I vote at a volunteer fire dept., and the wives, well, volunteer. I know most of them, and some are Republican, but they are all nice. I think they enjoy it.

Another alternative might be to do the whole thing by registered mail. Turnout would go up enormously if we had a whole week to vote...which of course, the GOP would hate.

[NMDemDist2]

12. we have a polling place every (approx) 10 blocks

they are all over so that's not the problem here

[OnionPatch]

3. We are getting rid of ours WOOO HOOO!!

I love California! And thank-you, thank-you, thank-you Kevin Shelley!

[donhakman]

5. last election my card vote was disqualified

By checking a space provided for the democratic candidate for President as well as the space provided for Vice President my vote was disqualified.

the large print giveth and the small print taketh away.

[hang a left]

4. Punchcards in the Governor Recall

but I heard San Diego County bought a ton of Diebold vote stealers.

[Endangered Specie]

6. I like ours (Raleigh NC)...

its always 'complete the arrow', and the arrows are always on one side (right pointing left), the names are on the other.

[NMDemDist2]

9. but then what? that's what we have in AZ and then it goes thru

an optical scanner. Bev Harris says those can be screwed with too...

[xray s]

10. optical scanners can be wrong

I know of an instance where votes for a referendum were not counted by the scanner. It happened in Illinois. There was a primary election that day. if you asked for a non-partisan ballot, your referendum vote didn't get counted. The county clerk noticed that it was odd people would take the time to go vote, but not mark the ballot, so they had a recount of the paper ballots and found the error. It was a programming mistake.

I think paper ballots, and random spot recounts, should be mandatory.