Observations from a polling booth

[jducoeur]

Our old voting machines (the ones with all the levers and automatic curtains and such) got replaced last year by SAT-style paper ballots. On the one hand, the practical side of me approves of the change: the paper system is much cheaper and easier, and doesn't take nearly as much space, so that they can handle sixteen people voting at once. That means that the old lines for the machines have completely vanished. But a part of me misses the visceral fun of pulling the levers, and the loud noises the machine would make when you pulled the big lever that registered your vote and opened the curtain. And there's something oddly lonely about the *lack* of a line -- you just don't get the feeling of the community working together for the commonweal that the old ten-minute wait engendered.

What the heck is the "State Committee", and why are there separate ballot sections for "State Committee -- Woman" and "State Committee -- Man"? Time for a little research...

I really ought to get myself on the Ward Committee, just on the principle of preventing it from being completely incestuous. From the ballot, I gather that the committee is supposed to be fifteen people. There were five on the ballot. Four of them live in the same house. Two of them have the same *name*...

Comments

[tpau]

yes, i want to knwo why i got to choose a selectman and a selectwoamn. for that matter, why i coudl vote for the ward comittee as a group :)

did the paper replace the lever thing permanently? i thought it was jsut for the minor elections and hte big levered thing wil lbe back in november? i always wondered wit hthe big lever how you could do a writein candidate? for that matter, how does the machien that looks suspiciously like a printer, figure out what i wrote if i write somethign in with my sharpie?

[snarkyman.livejournal.com]

... how does the machien that looks suspiciously like a printer, figure out what i wrote if i write somethign in with my sharpie?

There is a bubble next to a label "Write-in Candidate". Darken this bubble and write-in your choice. I suppose that all write-in candidates would have to be manually counted later.

[jducoeur]

AFAIK, the lever machines are gone permanently. They'd been a bit of an issue for years, and I think that they decided to get rid of them in the wake of the 2000 election debacle in Florida, when everyone was all hyper about ballot mechanisms. They had the same paper mechanism this past November, which was certainly a "real" election, even if it was an off-year...

And I agree with snarkyman -- write-ins must be getting tallied by hand. I'd bet that the number of write-ins is usually pretty small, though...

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Four of them live in the same house. Two of them have the same *name*...

Oh, you noticed that too. And it's right up the road from me...maybe I'll go knock on their door and introduce myself.

[galaneia.livejournal.com]

We've actually got twelve running for the 15 slots in our ward. I didn't check the addresses.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

You're right, we're in a different ward. Nevertheless, four (five?) of the names lived on Dale, a bunch more on the south part of Bacon...and two had the same name. Must be endemic.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Tarallos senior and junior. The younger one, "Teddy," I voted for in his unsuccessful campaign for city councilman last fall, partly because I was so darn tickled to see someone under 30 running for office. He came around doorbell-ringing shortly before the November election.

[zachkessin.livejournal.com]

Oh, Teddy, I know him. He went (Goes?) to Brandeis. I don't know him well but he seems like a nice guy. Before this year he had a bit of a goth thing going but he got rid of it to run for office.

[laurion]

Yeah, he kept up the whole top-hat and nails thing until fairly late in his career, and then he cleaned up so much you'd hardly know it was the same kid.

Interesting

[hungrytiger]

Huh, I hadn't realized that the ward committee was that broad, I thought it was more of a local thing. From the sound of it though, we had the same ballot in Stoneham that you did in Waltham (Marsy and I were commenting on the four people in the same house as well).

The State Committee - Man / State Committee - Woman thing really bugged me too. Not exactly what I'd call a gender blind public office.

I did wonder that, since there were only 15 or so names on the ballot, but as you're allowed to vote for up to 35 people for Ward Committee, how many votes does it take to get in as a write-in candidate. I was joking with Marsy that I better not put my name in as one vote might be enough to do it.

Re: Interesting

[jducoeur]

Actually, our Ward Committee had five names, and you're allowed to vote for up to fifteen, so it might be a completely separate Ward. (Which would make sense.)

The four-in-a-house might be a coincidence: in our case, it was the Tarallos, who live just down the hill from us (I think in the same block as Windsmeet Mark II)...

State Committee

[metageek.livejournal.com]

What the heck is the "State Committee"

Here it is, from the state election site: Elections: How to Run for State Committee 2004. It's not a governmental body; it's a party body, one for each party (which explains why they're voted for in the primary).

Why it's mandated that there be one man and one woman from each district is another question.

In Chelmsford, the Town Committee was supposed to be 35 people; there were 35 on the ballot. I just declined to vote; it won't make a difference to the outcome, and I'm not about to pretend to support such a sham.

Re: State Committee

[zachkessin.livejournal.com]

Probably all they can find to run. These offices tend to be hard to fill sometimes. I dont think it pays much if at all. There is probably a fair amount of work and so on. On the other hand if you don't like it, next time run.

Re: State Committee

[metageek.livejournal.com]

Probably all they can find to run.

Maybe...it just seems suspicious when they have exactly enough to fill the slate and no more.

These offices tend to be hard to fill sometimes. I dont think it pays much if at all. There is probably a fair amount of work and so on.

True. It's probably the sort of job that divides into two sorts of people: the ones that sincerely want to serve, and the ones that want to use it as a springboard to launch a political career. The latter get more flamage than they deserve, and the former probably get discouraged by being mistaken for the latter.

On the other hand if you don't like it, next time run.

OK, point taken. Hmm...I suppose the first step would be to volunteer at the local party office, to get to see whether there's actually anything needs fixing.

Polling machines

[metageek.livejournal.com]

But a part of me misses the visceral fun of pulling the levers,

Hey, be glad they didn't go to touchscreen-based crap. You marked up your own ballot, you were able to see for yourself what was recorded, and now your ballot is locked up safe where it can be recounted by hand if it turns out the software was corrupt.

you just don't get the feeling of the community working together for the commonweal that the old ten-minute wait engendered.

On the other hand, it turns voting from a tedious chore into a minor errand that's much easier to fit into your day. That's got to be good for democracy.

Re: Polling machines

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

and now your ballot is locked up safe where it can be recounted by hand if it turns out the software was corrupt.

Yeah -- folks in CA have told us it's *all* electronic, no paper at all. The scenes from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress where everyone in Luna votes for the new government via computer, not realizing that it's a setup. At least Adam Selene was a benevolent tyrant.

suffering for democracy

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

I just voted here (Chelmsford) and it was likewise uneventful, and no wait. I guess that 10 minutes of working together every four years is going to have to be spent on arguing about breasts at the Superbowl or some other pursuit.

I've never gotten to use a levers type machine; I would have liked to at some point. California before the computers had punch cards probably much the same as those in FL which produced chads of suspicion-- however, the poker you used to punch them out went in a couple of inches so there shouldn't have been any doubts once you did it.