The Deed is Done
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Thursday, October 30, 2008
I'm just back from early voting. We're still voting touch screen here, and the display did confirm all of my votes. I'd be happy with a paper receipt, though. The volunteer told me they'd had over 1200 early voters yesterday. I hear tomorrow (last day for early voting where I live) will be packed.
This year they've changed it up a bit. The first step was to present my registration or other ID to a volunteer. He looked the info up on a computer, and passed my stuff on to the next volunteer, who verified my name and printed out a label with my name, address, and precinct. The next volunteer asked if this was my first time to vote in the county and whether or not I'd used the touch screen system before. The next volunteer affixed the stickier to the roll sheet, which I signed. She handed me a card for the machine and told me to return it when I was finished.
The one thing I like about touch screen voting is that even if you abstain from races, you're forced to go through the entire ballot. After that you're presented with your choices and a chance to amend them. (There are also "back" buttons starting with the second page of the ballot.) Once the ballot is finalized, the card pops out. Again, I'd like a paper trail of what I've done, but that's my only complaint. The process is fast.
When I turned my phone's sound back on I saw a text message from Chris. He's just voted at the college. Paul says he voted earlier this morning. That means we're all done.
If you're not voting touch screen - please remember to go through the entire ballot. This is especially important if you're voting straight ticket. There may be some state or local initiatives on your ballot that you don't want to miss.
Nothing left to do but watch the returns on Tuesday night. I'm gonna miss Tim Russert and his whiteboard, though.
Tags: Election
Filed under: Election
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