Maybe the whole country should go back to Lever Machines

[HockeyMom]

Don't get me wrong, I love high tech and all our new modern gadgets. BUT, that is no reason to throw out everything that has worked in the past. Let me give a few examples.

Although I have several remote telephones and cell phones, I still have a 20 year old, rotary dial, cord phone. I cannot tell you how many times in bad weather, blackouts, brownouts, that cord phone has been the only thing in the entire house that was still on. I also have an old battery operated radio. Without those two ancient pieces of equipment, I can remember at least two instances where I would have been totally cut off from the outside world.

If something WORKS, use it. Don't throw it away simply because it is "old".

[Fredda Weinberg]

1. Touch tone works in a power outage as well

Regulated industries like phone companies have to have their own generators; that's why they work when the lights go out.

Lever machines leave no auditable trail. If the votes can't be counted for any reason, they're gone.

Sorry, but I'm not interested in staying in the caves. Precinct based optical scanners are the best compromise between reliability and efficiency.

[B3Nut]

10. Only if the phone itself is phone-line powered

Cordless phones have their own AC-powered supplies for their bases, and combo answering machine+phones or fax machines go out in a power outage as well. The only phone in my house that works if the power is out is an old wall-mount Sony that runs off the phone line.

I'd still like to see lever voting machines again as well, I only got to vote with those once. Most fun way to vote ever! After pulling the levers and then pulling that big one that registered the votes and opened the curtain, you felt like you VOTED. Optically-scanned ballots are probably the best overall, though. We still use them where I live.

Todd in Beerbratistan

[Nolo_Contendre]

2. I like the way they vote in The Gambia, with marbles

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5369966.stm

[LoZoccolo]

3. Lever machines are pretty much the original black box voting machines.

They can be tampered with by jamming things into the gears so that the vote count doesn't get updated, and there's no way of doing a recount if there's a mechanical failure. I'd actually prefer the punchcards to those.

[sandyd921]

4. Why not paper ballots

for the entire country? In fact I'd be happy to see a totally paper system: paper ballots without optical scanning. We would have to wait a couple days for the results but I think it would be worth it, in that we could all have greater confidence in the results and it would lessen the likelihood of challenges. I understand that Canada and European countries do this and it works just fine.

[BluegrassDem]

7. How about like they do in Germany?

In Germany, the got a big piece of paper with all the candidates and parties and you just simply take a pen and mark "X" next to the person or parties name! Then you just stick the ballot in a big ol' box. How easy can that be?

[cali]

11. And that's exactly how I vote

here in rural Vermont. Works just fine. I believe Canada also uses paper and pencil.

[TrogL]

13. Canada uses paper and the results are in time for the 11 p.m. news

[NMDemDist2]

5. I never voted on a lever machine, the oldest I've used were punch

card ballots and I've voted since 1974

[Rene]

6. We have Lever machines in CT still....and I think they're great

Easy to change from election to election.
The trick with ANY election now is that people have to go back to the polling places at 8PM and watch the officials count and report every vote.
In a very short time they've gathered the votes and verified each machine....and announce the vote counts right there.
We've been doing it for years now. It's just about an hour's investment in time....but when I watch the count and several verify processes, I KNOW our votes are accurately counted. I also know several of the good people who volunteer at polling booths in our town.
Take the time to get to the polling place...8PM and witness the counting.....it's so very important.

[Kablooie]

8. I want a purple finger!

[Maine-ah]

9. Lever Machines?

Never even seen one up here, or the punch ballot, or the touch screen. I think we should vote the way we do up in my neck of the woods. On a ballot, with fill in the blank. Or maybe everyone should get absentee ballots. No more having to travel out, standing in line. You get to fill it in, in the privacy of your own home ect, ect....

[HockeyMom]

12. Somewhere out West where you can Only vote Mail In Ballots

Oregon? Washington? I forget where, but remember it was talked about last election.