Dean's World

they're still battling it out here,as well. The State Ag commissioner job is about 400 vites either way, and it was confirmed that they lost 4000+ votes to machine malfunctions in one county. Oops.

Well the only thing that really disturbs me--if its true--is the reports of carefully cherry-picking only those districts to recount where it looks like one side will pick up votes but not the other. If true, that's not trying to get an honest count, that's an open attempt to rig the results.

We really need more modernization and updating of this stuff. Alas, to many, "modernization" seems to mean "entirely computerized with no paper trail," which I find even more disturbing.

How hard can it be to develop an ATM type machine that will take your vote electronically and then spit out a slip with the vote on it that can be put in a lockbox until the vote is certified? If there is a question about the results, it's then easy enough to simply tally the slips. Otherwise, perhaps after a specified period of time, the slips could be shredded.

Heather: it's too easy to gimmick the electronic machines. It's that simple. And the problem is that every solution to that

problem reduces, or eliminates, voter privacy.

Dean: I'd like to hear specifics on how more modern we can get after punch cards, which have proven to be one of the most

reliable tallying systems around.

The problem here is that the spoilage is 1%-2%, and we've had some very close elections recently. Alas, the DEMOCRATIC PARTY

has decided to constantly challenge any close election, even (as in the case in Washington) two counts in a row have gone

against them.

Hell, they're still talking about a recount in Ohio! Arrgh.

I agree with mariner that one should at least be require to provide identification at the polling place. In Ohio I just give

them my name, and sign next to a scanned sample of my signature for verification. I would have no problem showing them my

driver's liscence.

Same thing with registration: if someone can't be bothered to register during the two YEARS (before a congressional

election), the four between presidential elections, or six between senatorial elections, then they don't get to vote. They've

had lots of time to get it done. Set a limit to two weeks before the election. And FIND OUT WHERE YOU VOTE AHEAD OF TIME. It

isn't that hard...

I don't recall who said it -maybe Smash- but someone recently pointed out it's hard to screw up a piece of paper, where you

put an "X" in a box. They won't neccessarily take longer to count, either. Just do what probably every university in the

country does, and use forms where you fill in circles to show your choice (great for multiple-choice tests), and feed them

into a scanning machine.

Best of all, no chads! But even that's not a panacea, as anyone who's followed the San Diego mayoral race through Citizen

Smash. The requirement for a write-in vote was that you had to fill in a circle next to the write-in entry to indicate a write-in vote. Simple, no? Well, apparently this was too much for some folks out west, because a number of ballots had a name written in, but no filled-in circle. Sorry, folks, but if you're too dumb to even read and follow simple instructions, you should NOT be voting.

In NC, they are NOT allowed to ask for your ID before you vote, but can ask you to state your birthdate and address before you sign for your ballot.

I personally have no issue with them asking for my ID before I vote. I need it to use a credit card or get on a plane, and frankly voting is at least as important as either of those.

I don't feel bad because I'm not paying that much attention to the farce. The election is over as far as I'm concerned. The only thing I feel bad at all about is that you people back East can't say "D.C." when referring to the Death Star, so you always add "state" when referring to Washington. ha! ha!

Casey: I actually agree with you about the punch cards. They're quite reliable and easy. The problem is that, as we've seen from Florida, sore losers won't put up with them when the election is close.

So. What next? I like the Scantron option myself. It's probably very moderately more reliable in that you don't have the "pregnant chad" nonsense, but even then you'll have idiots who marked outside the circles, didn't fully fill in the box, left a dot with the pencil then changed their minds, etc.

Fully electronic voting undoes all that but then you have the "black box" worry that you don't know if someone is twiddling the bits inside.

What I think would be best, though, is if each state standardized on exactly one counting method and set of rules, and that those rules be set in stone. Alas, again, no matter how set in stone the rules are, the sore losers will run to the courts to try to get the rules changed.