Now for something different...

I've never understood why the paper ballot with the X marked wasn't good enough to keep. It could be scanned and also hand counted. During the years [many years] that I voted absentee, the punch card ballot was a bitch. Although I never knew the phrase, hanging chads were always a problem. We had to completely punch out the inside of the circle, and often times that little hanger on was stronger than the surrounding material and there would go a rip and there I'd go wondering whether my ballot would be thrown out.

Although I enjoyed the touch screen voting I went through Tuesday, I had to admit that 16 pages seemed to be expansive, and I've always worried about the "paperless" solution. Anything that's computer based can be hacked, and since 9/11, there's been strict government controls over any commerical encryption system, so there's really nothing new under the sun. Without a paper backup, the conspiracy theorists will have a field day.

Luckily, I'm old enough so that I'm real good at convincing myself that [a] my vote really is counted that nobody is stealing the election, and that [c] democracy still matters in this country.

My only worry about this palaver about voting machines is that it'll convince people that the system is rigged and they should ignore it. "The only thing necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing."

Petty: Why should you grit your teeth at your fellow muppet? Is it my new/old avatar?

 

What the heck was wrong with paper ballots? Sure they take forever to count...but they're pretty damn hard to eff up.

I'll take paper ballots with voter registration card and id check at the door, please. Oh and those blue ink finger jobs would be good to keep people from voting more than once.

 

Well, GBFC, you'll realize that we're not just voting for one person -- that's why my ballot was 16 pages long on the computer screen, but your point is very well taken.

You have an advantage in Old Blighty in that you're all in one time zone. Over here, from NY to Honolulu, we go over about 8 time zones, and counting and publication of that counting begins when most of the folks over the water are still waking up.

I would prefer that no ballot counting [either computer or manual] occur until all the polls are closed in the 50th state [This is by no means my idea. Folks on all sides of the political spectrum have been calling for this since the 1960 elections. But it's the price the parties pay for having the free TV coverage during the conventions, so it's still here to stay].

I have no problem with waiting until Thursday night or Friday morning to find out who won. If nothing else, it'd keep the idiot "experts" that pollute the TV in BOTH our countries from pontificating about things like what 13% of the votes from rural Tennessee means for contested House races in Montana. :twisted: