Voting geekery
Apr. 30th, 2008 11:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
viedmaI voted early yesterday and I have to say I like the newer machines. They are an improvement on the older ones because--
a. The smaller size doesn't make you feel like you're playing election pinball (or this may be a bad thing depending on your POV). A person in a wheelchair can put that sucker in her lap if she wants to.
b. They've eliminated the parallax problem. Every previous Indiana election I've wanted to bring a ruler into the voting booth so I can match up the candidates name with the little red dot an inch away. This time a black X appears on the screen right next to the person's name. Much better. (This is not the same as this Parallax, which is not a problem at all and is in fact rather hot.)
c. The final screen that says Your Vote Has Been Successfully Cast, Thank you! when you press the red "cast your vote" button. You realize how much of your monkey brain depended on having that last little confirmation, especially when compared to the previous machines where you pressed the button and you felt like you dropped your vote into a well. When I went to poll worker training last weekend, they showed you how to do a Z report before the polls open and close, so you have your paper trail. As Vali says, we're the smaller, less crazy Ohio.
Re the Supreme Court upholding Indiana's Votersuppression ID law? Disappointed, not surprised. I was especially sad to hear Stevens' reasoninG: an Indiana state ID is free, so that makes it okay. Yes, the ID is free, but in order to get the free ID you have to show a variety of documents, some of them difficult or impossible to attain depending on your life situation. Not everyone has their birth certificate on hand and why are we making it harder to vote in the first place? Well, because our Secretary of State is a faithful Republican tool.
However, I am going to be optimistic for the long term because lots of other states are going to try this and they will screw it up royally (*waves to Ohio and Florida*), thus inviting another court challenge. Because for all our faults, we do have one of the best voter information sites in the country and we have multiple early voting locations, most of them being in the poorer parts of the county. Also, if your side depends on suppressing the vote, then you've already lost. Maybe not in this election cycle, but someday.
Did I mention I'm going to be an election inspector next week? My first one and right now more excited than nervous at the moment. That ratio could change.
Thus ends your voting geekfest until November.
a. The smaller size doesn't make you feel like you're playing election pinball (or this may be a bad thing depending on your POV). A person in a wheelchair can put that sucker in her lap if she wants to.
b. They've eliminated the parallax problem. Every previous Indiana election I've wanted to bring a ruler into the voting booth so I can match up the candidates name with the little red dot an inch away. This time a black X appears on the screen right next to the person's name. Much better. (This is not the same as this Parallax, which is not a problem at all and is in fact rather hot.)
c. The final screen that says Your Vote Has Been Successfully Cast, Thank you! when you press the red "cast your vote" button. You realize how much of your monkey brain depended on having that last little confirmation, especially when compared to the previous machines where you pressed the button and you felt like you dropped your vote into a well. When I went to poll worker training last weekend, they showed you how to do a Z report before the polls open and close, so you have your paper trail. As Vali says, we're the smaller, less crazy Ohio.
Re the Supreme Court upholding Indiana's Voter
However, I am going to be optimistic for the long term because lots of other states are going to try this and they will screw it up royally (*waves to Ohio and Florida*), thus inviting another court challenge. Because for all our faults, we do have one of the best voter information sites in the country and we have multiple early voting locations, most of them being in the poorer parts of the county. Also, if your side depends on suppressing the vote, then you've already lost. Maybe not in this election cycle, but someday.
Did I mention I'm going to be an election inspector next week? My first one and right now more excited than nervous at the moment. That ratio could change.
Thus ends your voting geekfest until November.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-30 04:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-30 07:57 pm (UTC)Regarding that law.
Date: 2008-04-30 05:15 pm (UTC)You're much more reasonable than me, with all your subsequent explanations about the various ways this will collapse in on itself. I would be screeching and waving my arms and swearing at strangers.
Re: Regarding that law.
Date: 2008-04-30 07:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-30 08:56 pm (UTC)Our primary is coming up...sometime. No contested races on either side (we had caucuses in February) so if it weren't for law, we could save a lot of $$ and just not have them.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-30 09:19 pm (UTC)