Some Tennessee voters say they touched one candidate’s name on a voting machine but saw a different name selected. State election officials say unintended touches can cause that to happen.
TN voter here. The poll workers are aware and on point. I was given a warning delivered in a very neutral tone. “Because there are so many options and the options are narrow some people have been noticing when they try to select an option it chooses the one above. Make sure the tip of your finger touches the candidate you are choosing. Double check the candidate you want is selected as a grayed box. Triple check the candidate you chose is showing on the review page. Quadruple check the candidate you chose is printed on the slip before feeding it into the counting machine. Come to us if the printed slip does not show the candidate you chose and we’ll spoil it and reset your vote.” Poll workers are heros.
That honestly sounds more like fucked up screen calibration than anything. If the machines are old as fuck, they likely still need that. People forget how shitty touchscreen tech used to be.
There are other ways to mess with the counts that aren’t going to be visible to the person as they make selections. Like having it show whatever they’re selecting properly, then just printing different selections at the end. Not everyone is going to verify the printed copy shows what they selected, and already confirmed on the machine once.
Making it jump around on screen isn’t discreet at all, and it’s not the easiest way to try and interfere. Poorly calibrated touchscreens, and a user interface with inadequate spacing between options are much more likely reasons.
We’re used to using devices that companies spend a lot of time designing the User Experience on. Voting machines are a very niche industry, with virtually no consumer backlash for a shitty experience because the voter has no direct control, and the government isn’t going to be using that interface to handle things like counts at the end.
Quadruple check the candidate you chose is printed on the slip before feeding it into the counting machine.
Europoor here: I thought you guys had actually digitalized the process. This just sounds like ticking a box on a piece of paper with a pen with extra steps.
In my case, it is a pen and paper, scanned by machine.
I don’t know if any state has gone full digital. That would preclude a manual recount, which I know is commonly a right of a candidate to request in a close result.
A hanging chad is a fragment from a punch-card ballot paper which has not detached fully, resulting in an incomplete and therefore invalid ballot paper. Punch-card voting machines require voters to punch holes in their ballot papers in order to indicate their voting preferences. The small discarded fragment of paper is called a “chad”. “Hanging chads” result when ballot papers are not completely punched through and the small piece of paper or card prevents the ballot paper from being marked down as a definite vote for a particular candidate.
Hanging chads were partly responsible for the unusually high proportion of invalid votes recorded in Florida during the 2000 US Presidential election. As Chads weren’t completely punched through, many ballot papers recorded people voting for fewer than the minimum number of candidates required. The US invested heavily in electronic voting methods such as voting machines, but still faces significant difficulties with elections.
TN voter here. The poll workers are aware and on point. I was given a warning delivered in a very neutral tone. “Because there are so many options and the options are narrow some people have been noticing when they try to select an option it chooses the one above. Make sure the tip of your finger touches the candidate you are choosing. Double check the candidate you want is selected as a grayed box. Triple check the candidate you chose is showing on the review page. Quadruple check the candidate you chose is printed on the slip before feeding it into the counting machine. Come to us if the printed slip does not show the candidate you chose and we’ll spoil it and reset your vote.” Poll workers are heros.
That honestly sounds more like fucked up screen calibration than anything. If the machines are old as fuck, they likely still need that. People forget how shitty touchscreen tech used to be.
When it comes to republican election fuckery there are no coincidences.
There are other ways to mess with the counts that aren’t going to be visible to the person as they make selections. Like having it show whatever they’re selecting properly, then just printing different selections at the end. Not everyone is going to verify the printed copy shows what they selected, and already confirmed on the machine once.
Making it jump around on screen isn’t discreet at all, and it’s not the easiest way to try and interfere. Poorly calibrated touchscreens, and a user interface with inadequate spacing between options are much more likely reasons.
We’re used to using devices that companies spend a lot of time designing the User Experience on. Voting machines are a very niche industry, with virtually no consumer backlash for a shitty experience because the voter has no direct control, and the government isn’t going to be using that interface to handle things like counts at the end.
This happened a few elections ago. Always favored Republicans for some reason.
Europoor here: I thought you guys had actually digitalized the process. This just sounds like ticking a box on a piece of paper with a pen with extra steps.
Note that every state can differ.
In my case, it is a pen and paper, scanned by machine.
I don’t know if any state has gone full digital. That would preclude a manual recount, which I know is commonly a right of a candidate to request in a close result.
That’s exactly what it is.
But you see this way the state has to buy billions of dollars of machines.
and who owns these machines, gop backe dcompanies.
I’m glad my state doesn’t go in for this bullshit. Paper ballot filled out by hand.
So what makes this better than a pencil mark on paper?
Nothing. Americans getting ripped off by some company selling bullshit at the expense of their democratic legitimacy.
You can count the votes faster… but who cares about that when you can just take longer?
Likewise, electronic voting just introduces the doubt of legitimacy, even if voting is totally safe and legit.
Well, for starters…
Nobody mentioned punch card ballots.
Punch card ballots are supposed to be much better than pen/pencil and paper and that ended in disaster.