I thought voting machines are supposed to speed up the process of voting.

[Smith_3]

Here in Germany there are NEVER lines at the ballots and all votes are on paper. I have never taken more than ten minutes to vote. Why are the United States unable to streamline the process of voting?

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. Nope. Voting machines are supposed to make elections easier to steal

That's the AMERICAN way of business. :patriot:

[Grinchie]

10. Just imagine Testing machines in schools...

All the kids would be forced to wait in line to take their tests, one after another.

What better way to get out of teaching kids critical thinking and independent thought?

This is how silly the American system has become. Computerize a system for the sake of Computerization and not to solve a real problem, breaking the original flow in the process. Works like a champ.

[snappyturtle]

2. It isn't like there are long lines everywhere in the U.S. although watching

the news you would think so. In my humble opinion, there are not enough booths and voting machines. It's a form of voter suppression but I don't believe it's going to work this time. People have had enough of the regime and will do whatever it takes to vote. Another thing to consider is that in some areas there are referendums and more offices to vote for. I noticed it took Sen.Obama quite some time to vote this morning but he's in Chicago, technically, and Cook County which is an enormous county. Consequently, I'm sure there were lots of races and other issues to vote for. imho

edit: We're not prepared for large turnouts. Election officials should not be let off the hook for that though because this time they should have known the turnout would be historically high.

[Grinchie]

12. You nailed it, It is thinly disguised voter suppression.

By forcing everyone to use a limited exclusive resource, you force the rest to wait until that resource is clear, wasting time and energy of the voter that has to wait.

Just imagine if they used this kind of process in a bank by limiting customers to one teller at a time.

People were so enamored by the thought of a shiny new Compuertized Datin'base, they overlook the fact that the software was written by either the lowest bidder, or scheming partisans. Not that an independant party is allowed to verify the code due to the secrecy afforded by the "Trade Secrets Act". You can be assured that the Companies that sold these machines made boatloads of money from the naive election boards that were suckered into these albatross.

They should probably do that for the Space Shuttle software too, but they couldn't have the Space Shuttle falling out of the air more than it already has.

Dont't forget that Bush presided over another Shuttle failure. The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on February 1, 2003. More proof that anything under his watch turns to crap.

[krumpli]

3. And Germany even has higher turnouts. n/t

[specialed]

4. It's the biggest lie ever.

I'm all for returning to paper / pen ballots here. The Republicans want a low voter turn out and have used caging techniques to deter voting for a generation. Time to stop this nonsense.

[CottonBear]

5. The ID requirements, check-in & cross checking of records, & limited # of machines

all contribute to slowing down the voting process.
Plus, the Republican Secretaries of State (responsible for running the state elections) do everything in their power to suppress the vote by making it hard to vote (ID checks and limited hours and limited numbers of voting machines.(

I wish that we had paper ballots like you Germans!
:hi:

[ROakes1019]

6. speedier?

No, voting machines don't speed up the vote. There are only a certain number of machines at a precinct, no matter the lines. With paper ballots, more voting stations can be added relatively easily. Voting machines are supposed to be quicker to count, unless there are mechanical problems, of which we've seen there are plenty. Plus, a lot of us just don't trust machines very much. I voted early by absentee because I don't trust the machines, not here in Mississippi.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

7. They're supposed to speed up the process of *counting* the votes.

The speed of the actual voting depends on a lot of factors (like how many machines are available or how many offices are being voted on).

[Greyhound]

8. Suppressing the vote and election fraud is a time-honored tradition in Amerika.

Encouraging participation and informing voters has never been a priority here, that's just another of those PR myths that we feed ourselves and the world.

:kick:

[dweller]

9. so quick

it picks the candidate for you beforehand.

dp

[tjwash]

11. Well...some uneducated nimrod standing there for 15 miniutes hogging the booth doesn't help.

Maybe skinner can pin this up so someone out there is saved a 15 minute wait while some asshole makes his mind while hogging a booth and letting a line form behind him, on everything but the president (or, in the case of the two seniors I overheard yesterday, including the president).

Propositions can be awkwardly worded you know.

[Igel]

13. There were long lines when I voted.

Voting was fairly quick.

However, while there were 13 voting machines, there were 4 people signing voters in. The "F-K" (yes, F through K) line was usually non-existent. Most of the time there were machines not being used, because the other 3 poll workers were very, very slow.

"Is X your last name?" Of course, the voter registration card invariably gives your name as "last-name, first-name middle-name". And it doesn't matter if the voter registration card's wrong--if it has your middle name first or even says your last name isn't "Smith" but "Folgegesnarglenheitsohnovich". Why? Because whatever is shown as your last name on the voter registration card will be listed as your last name in the voter registration log, it will be alphabetized as such, and that's where you should sign. (If you say, "No, my last name is Smith" they won't be able to find you in the poll book, slowing things down.)

Silly pollworker. She also needed new glasses.

Now, the voting machines will undoubtedly simplify counting. Record turnout expected. My ballot listed 54 offices, some with 4-5 people running. I can't imagine the small army needed to count a million ballots with 54 races.

The long line was at 7 am, when the polls opened here. I got to vote at 8:03 am. When I left, the line was half its 7 am length. By 9:30, the line was probably gone, and will stay gone until the 12 m lunch rush, then vanish until the 3 pm "I'm off work" rush, the 5:30 pm "I'm off work rush", and then the 6:30 pm "oh, crap, the polls close in 30 minutes" rush.

[eppur_se_muova]

14. That's only a selling point. Not actually meant to be true. nt

[Ms. Toad]

15. Number of races/issues

My ballot was 4 - 18" long pages, with 31 races/issues.

Takes longer to mark ballots that long - no matter what you are marking them with.