Comments on: A High Tech Voting Experience

By: » Blog Archive » Echo 5

» Blog Archive » Echo 5 — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:13:57 +0000

[...] This is the most political that you will hear Tee as we compare the Australian and US voting systems and find out about the process involved where Tee voted. You can see pictures and read more at http://www.teemorris.com DING! including his post which inspired today’s episode here. [...]

By: Echo - episode 5 « Echo Romeo Kilo One One

Echo - episode 5 « Echo Romeo Kilo One One — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:15:18 +0000

By: Kevin Cafferty

Kevin Cafferty — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:59:42 +0000

In Massachusetts we don’t have fancy touch-screens, we vote with a felt pen and electronic scanners – just like our founding fathers did.

By: Amy Bowen

Amy Bowen — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:34:46 +0000

As a new resident of Palm Beach County, Florida – the county that probably still has a reputation as the place with the most and worst vote-counting problems in the entire country – I am very pleased to say that we have cleaned up our act a bit since we got that reputation. This morning, I voted using a paper ballot and a felt-tip pen. There is a record of my vote that cannot be hacked or accidentally deleted, and I’m very happy about that.

By: Doc Coleman

Doc Coleman — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 03:41:36 +0000

They let you take electronic devices into the polls? In Maryland, we have to turn off all electronics when we get into the polling place. Aren’t they concerned about how easily you can hack the voting machine with your phone?

Doc

By: D L Owens

D L Owens — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 02:41:21 +0000

There are some folks that leave the papers blank, as a sort of rebellion against mandatory voting, or simply because they disliked or didn’t know the politicians that were on the ballot papers. I’ve left the paper blank once because I was in a different area and had no clue who the mayoral choices were. There was simply no information online about those individuals so it seemed silly to check or number a group of unknowns.

By: Echo Romeo Kilo One One - episode 5. Show Notes « Erk Pod - “All Erk, all the time ….. and then some!”

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 02:33:14 +0000

By: Orange Tim

Orange Tim — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 02:06:32 +0000

In Australia, once you have turned 18 yrs old, you register your name with Australian Electrol Commission and your name is then placed on the Electrol Roll. The only time you have to make changes is when you move address, because you may end up in a different electorate. If you move interstate, well of course you’ve moved into a different electorate! LOL! As D L Owens mentioned with have two major Parties, Liberal Party of Australia and Australian Labor Party. Yes, It’s spelt L-A-B-O-R, because when it was formed they want to be seen as different from the Labour Party in the UK. The National Party is the “Farmer’s Party” of sorts, although they’re a lot more than that these days. The Liberals and The Nationals traditional form a Coalition. Although historical the Nationals were formed from The Liberals. Anyhow….. You HAVE to vote. It is mandatory. You go the polling station, get your name signed off on the electoral roll and you’re given two ballot papers. One for the House of Representitives and one for the Senate. we vote with pencil and paper here.

By: D L Owens

D L Owens — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:26:00 +0000

In Australia it is mandatory to vote. The main parties are Labour (ALP) and the Coalition which is made up of the Liberal (NLP) and National Party, whose only hope of gaining power is that alliance. In Federal politics the Liberals are in charge, but in the states like Queensland the Nationals are given the leadership role. More recently the Queensland coalition merged to create a super-party called the National Liberals, a name that I still laugh at because of the hype about the group itself.
Most places ask your name and that’s it as far as ID is concerned. They cross off your name and send you on the way with your ballot paper/s and a pencil that is about to break. There is a bunch of different people outside of the polling centers, but you can always telling the Green Party or the Legalize Marijuana Party by the unkempt hair and thongs, though the Greens are usually neat. If you look close enough you’ll notice the box of granola bars in their backpack.

By: MarcieAlana

MarcieAlana — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:56:42 +0000

We have those machines too, but I’ve done paper ballots for the last couple elections. There are too many concerns about audit trails and software issues. There was *one* electronic machine at my polling place and 7 carols for use with paper ballots. We got to choose which to use and I think during the whole time I was there only two people used the electronic machine.

(Mind you, our paper ballots are fed into a machine that seems to scan them immediately — but there’s a paper trail!)

By: Philippa Ballantine

Philippa Ballantine — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:51:31 +0000

I miss the days of the McGillicuddy Serious Party in NZ. They ran on platform of banning electricity, outlawing money, and ship all modern technology overseas to pay off debts (manifesto http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/bernard.smith/manifesto/contents.htm) But I never actually voted for them (sorry guys) but they were fun. I don’t think you can ‘cancel’ another’s vote- to do so just on that basis beggers the point of democracy. It’s all about what *you* want, not trying to stymie the other guy. Good luck America, we’ll be watching with interest!

By: WilliamPall

WilliamPall — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:18:55 +0000

Dang it, I’m jealous. I went to vote today and instead of some new-fangled machine I was given a #2 pencil and a sheet that reminded me of those multiple choice tests back in school (and considering my voting location was a school . . . )

As far as showing who you voted for, Yeah, okay, maybe my vote counter-acts yours, but I think that one of the great things about this country is that we are allowed to have our own opinions and actually have a voting process in place. The important thing, as you pointed out is to act on it.