BBV - Canada is using paper ballots - why can't the US?

[TrogL]

http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=faq&document=faqvoting&lang=e&textonly=false

What measures are in place to ensure the secrecy of the vote?

Ballots are printed on special paper stock. The number of sheets sent to printers and returned by them is closely controlled.

The ballot paper is divided into three detachable parts: the ballot itself, the counterfoil and the stub, which stays attached to the ballot book. The stub and counterfoil have a matching serial number printed on them. The serial number is strictly a temporary control mechanism used to ensure that the ballot given to the elector is the same ballot that is given back to the deputy returning officer. The serial number does not appear on the ballot itself, and it is not registered anywhere with the voter’s name.

Strict procedures at the polling station also ensure the secrecy of the vote. When electors enter the polling station, they present themselves to the deputy returning officer for their polling division. The poll clerk then checks to determine that each elector’s name appears on the voters list for that poll. Once an elector is confirmed to be on the list, the deputy returning officer removes an initialled and pre-folded ballot from the book – with its counterfoil still attached – and instructs the elector to go behind the voting screen, mark the ballot in secret and return it, folded, to the same deputy returning officer.

The deputy returning officer takes each ballot that is returned, without unfolding it, and checks that it is the same initialled ballot that was presented to the elector. The serial number on the counterfoil must match the serial number on the stub remaining in the book.

Once satisfied that the ballot is the same that was presented to the elector, the deputy returning officer removes and discards the counterfoil and returns the still folded ballot to the elector. The elector places the ballot in the ballot box, or asks the deputy returning officer to do so.

Once an elector has voted, the poll clerk places a check mark in a column next to that elector’s name on the voters list, indicating that the elector has voted, and crosses the elector’s name from the list.

The elector leaves the poll.

(Mods - it's a public document - "free use" applies)

[Kelvin Mace]

1. In America,

paper is so "yesterday", so "low tech". We don't believe in any solution that doesn't spend lots of money.

David Allen
Publisher, CEO, Janitor
Plan Nine Publishing
http://www.plan9.org
http://www.blackboxvoting.com

[Eric J in MN]

2. We should.

The amount of time it takes to count plain paper ballots on election night is a fraction of the time it takes to:

1) build electronic voting machines
2) ship electronic voting machines to be tested
3) test the electronic voting machines
4) ship back the electronic voting machines
5) ship the electronic voting machines to storage places
6) train poll workers in the elecronic voting machines


It also more secure to use paper ballots, as long as the counting is public and the public can watch the ballot box until counting.