pudge's Journal: Voter Complaints

On MichaelMoore.com, I saw one of the many voter complaints, from my county, in which someone claimed that our voting machines didn't tell people to submit their votes. I responded, and they apparently removed the initial complaint.

I note this to say hey, good for them for removing it, and also, don't believe everything you read on sites like this. Take it all with a grain of salt. Here's what I wrote, FWIW:

Someone else reported problems with voting machines in Snohomish County. I have used these machines thrice, once in the summer registering voters (we had a demo), and once in the primary itself, and once today.

I agree the machines are a bit difficult to use, but cannot agree that the users are not told to submit the final results. The way these machines -- from Sequoia -- work, is that you are given options, you select your choices, and then you select the big yellow NEXT button at the bottom (or BACK, to go back).

You keep hitting NEXT and making choices until the choices are all done. You see a page with all your choices, and then two more big yellow BACK and NEXT buttons. You are directed to select a choice to change it. When you hit NEXT, you then are told one last time, hit SUBMIT or hit REVIEW to go back and make changes. You do that, and you are done, and your voting card ejects.

Even if someone sees the list of choices and does not see the same big yellow NEXT button they've hit several times already to get to this point, the voting machine cannot be used until the process is finished and the voting card is ejected (unless a voting worker overrides it and cancels out the whole process), so if someone leaves before completely finishing, the voting worker just needs to hit NEXT and SUBMIT to finish it.

Again, it may not be ideal, but it is not as bad as the other user made it sound. And it's the same systems in use nationwide by anyone who uses Sequoia, so it's not some Snohomish County plot (and we have a far left liberal Democrat Conrgessman representing us here, Rick Larsen, so I don't know why they think we are a bastion of Republicanism).

But...

[helix400]

The real question remains. Why were you wasting time on MichaelMoore.com pudge? =)

Re:But...

[pudge]

I was seriously considering calling his toll-free number for reporting problems with voting ... to let them know I had no problems, to alleviate the overwhelming concern they obviously have for me.

Re:But...

[robi2106]

Oooooo that would have been great!

So I have been hitting refresh at an inhuman rates for all of the following; BBC, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, FoxNews. But what I haven't been doing is following the bastions of the left.

What is their take on it...

jason

Sweatin' to the Lefties (and the Righties)

[pokeyburro]

Personally, I stick to moderate sites like OxBlog, BuzzMachine, WindsOfChange, WorldChanging, The Moderate Voice, and others. I also hit a few sites that lean right, but are still well-written, like Donald Sensing's and Bill Roggio's. I think I could use a couple of good left-leaning, well-written political sites. I honestly don't know of any offhand, and I should rectify that.

I typically stay away from anything that's hard left or right, like Michael Moore or Rush Limbaugh. One good thing about them,

remember

[ceejayoz]

Remember, a certain percentage of users are idiots who won't comprehend even the most obvious and basic of instructions.

I would, however, love to have more regulation on ballot and polling machine usability... it'd at least get rid of the conspiracy theories about certain areas using confusing ballots to screw voters out of their votes.

Ughhh

[Otter]

That sounds like a typical interface designed by someone who can't conceive of a user who hasn't spent most of his life in front of a GUI. You or I could look at that mess and figure it out (hey, it's better than the GIMP) but I can't imagine my grandmother knowing what to do with it.

At least you don't have to hit :wq to submit your vote, though!

True Story

[ellem]

My wife and I had Parent Teacher Conference this morning which happens to be our polling place here in sunny Farmingville NY. (yeah that Farmingville.)

Ok so I go up and I am an R. I have to show 2 forms of ID. My wife is BLANK and has to sho no ID. I ask the polling troll who I have seen for every election since 1986 "What's up with the ID check?"

"Dunno, all Repulicans seem to have to show their ID this time."

"Weird."

"Honey I have been doing this since 1968 and I have never seen this before."

"Welco

Re:True Story

[brevity]

That's insane. I've heard of all these "challengers" swooping into polling places, in both red and blue states, but yours is the only first-hand story I know of.

You should report it to Michael Moore. ;)

Same old, same old

[jdavidb]

Here in Texas, we still just complete a broken arrow with a black marker. Works well, at least for me, but then, I'm literate, so I can't say how well for everybody.

Re:Same old, same old

[robi2106]

Literate? Crap, illiterate people can make a line on a piece of paper, though I suppose that figuring out which line to complete is the trick. :-)

jason

Let me say...

[cascadefx]

Good for you. I think that was a great letter and it appears to have received an appropriate response. We need more of that. You should run for public office.