Welcome to the Second Life Forums Archive

These forums are CLOSED. Please visit the new forums HERE

question about touch screen voting and the ol' fashion way
SuluMor Romulus
Content and Linden Baron
Join date: 2 Jun 2003
Posts: 161
11-03-2004 08:41
Here in Michigan we had the ol' fashion chad infested ballots, which leave a paper trail, and Michigan went to Kerry. I know Florida had touch screen voting...did Ohio too? Would be interesting to know and would perhaps fuel a touch screen voting fraud conspiracy ;)
_____________________
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"The real and lasting victories are
those of peace, and not war."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hank Ramos
Lifetime Scripter
Join date: 15 Nov 2003
Posts: 2,328
11-03-2004 08:44
You'll never know! :D
_____________________
Cienna Rand
Inside Joke
Join date: 20 Sep 2003
Posts: 489
11-03-2004 09:12
I voted touchscreen, and it really really really does not sit well with me. With all honesty I can say I am not sure if my vote was legitimately counted. There is no paper trail, there is no accountability, there is no security. Last election when I handed in a piece of paper I could see the holes/marks/lines which indicated who I was voting for; I was in posession of the actual item that would be counted. With electronic voting, you never see that. It's a black hole of the unknown.

I like the touchscreen aspect, however. It gives much more flexibility than a printed ballot. However the actual, counted object needs to be physical. These machines even have the ability to generate a paper record of the vote, but it is only used for diagnostics.
_____________________
You can't spell have traffic without FIC.
Primcrafters (Mocha 180,90) : Fine eyewear for all avatars
SLOPCO (Barcola 180, 180) : Second Life Oil & Petroleum
Company
Landmarker : Social landmarking software
Conversation : Coming soon!
Akuma Withnail
Money costs too much
Join date: 29 Aug 2004
Posts: 347
11-03-2004 09:27
Computerized voting is evil, evil, evil.

Screw paper, paper is perishable, voters should carve threir choices into little rocks so that votes can be recounted for centuries to come.

No seriously, I agree with you, if there's no physical evidence it's just way too easy to manipulate the numbers and it wreaks havok with peoples peace of mind.
Aaron Levy
Medicated Lately?
Join date: 3 Jun 2004
Posts: 2,147
11-03-2004 19:19
Most precincts in Ohio used old-fashioned electronic voting machines -- not touch-screen. The ballot slides up, and you press a button next to your choice. A red light comes on. You can change your votes as many times as you want until you hit a big green button on the bottom.

CNN reported today that complaints of machines not working for the touch-screen voting machines were equal, and in many areas, less than problems experienced with the equipment those new machines replaced.
_____________________
Neehai Zapata
Unofficial Parent
Join date: 8 Apr 2004
Posts: 1,970
11-03-2004 19:24
In DC we had both. You could choose whether you wanted a pencil or the computer.

You could really tell an age difference between the two options.

I chose the pencil. :) I just like the physical vote being cast.
_____________________
Unofficial moderator and proud dysfunctional parent to over 1000 bastard children.
Essence Lumin
.
Join date: 24 Oct 2003
Posts: 806
11-03-2004 19:37
Oregon was a touch of old and new. Paper ballots that you marked with a pen or pencil but they were mailed or dropped off at a site up to a week or two before the election ended.