Which machine do I choose

[wildflowergardener]

Hi. I just learned that St. Louis County has new voting machines starting tomorrow. It appears that we will have a choice of which machine to use - either an ES&S touchscreen voting machine with a paper trail, or an ES&S optical scan machine.

Is one any better than the other?

Meg

[yourout]

1. Opscan.

On the microscopic chance that they actually count your vote and they have a recount the ballot for the opscan should be readable compared to a shitty thermal paper printout that will fade in about 5 minutes.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

2. more info on optical scan

see

http://www.ncvoter.net/opticalscan.html

or www.nyvv.org

there is no perfect machine, but the op scan has a recountable
paper ballot, easier to use, serves more voters more quickly
and is less comples.

[evlbstrd]

3. We've got 'em on the other side of the state, too.

We fought and argued, but the election board treated us like ignorant children. Go op-scan, as the previous posters said. It's marked by hand, then scanned. Whether they're used for hand recounts or not is a question for both the local boards and the Secretary of State.

edit: I meant to reply to the OP.

[eridani]

4. Opscan, and see if you can't pass a law mandating audits n/t

[eomer]

5. The real answer is that you cannot know.

It may turn out that in your locality the opscan system is rigged and the touchscreen is not. Somewhere else it may be the touchscreen that is rigged.

The touchscreen paper trail has its unique problems but in some other ways is superior to opscan. For example, the paper trail (if it hasn't faded) will in most likelihood be unambiguous. An opscan ballot, on the other hand can be ambiguous due to voter error and it can easily be tampered with. A worker with access to an opscan ballot can render it into an overvote with a quick and easy mark (either before or after it is voted). A VVPT printed from a touchscreen cannot be altered so easily.

On the other hand, maybe the chain of custody for the opscan ballots will be good in your area but that of the VVPT will be bad. Or the other way around. No way for you to know unless you are one of a few election insiders.

Voting in the US of A is really a shot in the dark. Will you hit the mark you intended? No way to know.

[wildflowergardener]

6. opscan

Well I don't vote until tonight, but it says that you feed the opscan ballot into the machine yourself, and it tells you if you've selected more choices than you are supposed to - if not you can get a new ballot.

Meg

[Bill Bored]

7. choose op scan!

Both system can be rigged but the hand marked paper ballots are easier to recount. The ES&S iVotronic VVPAT prints all kinds of useless information that makes is it harder to audit. The machine could run out of paper without necessarily alarming too.

Either way, you should find out if there will be any kind of random audit or recount of these paper ballots or records. If not, then it's all a scam, but hopefully there is some provision in the law for some hand counts under some circumstances.

Let us know how it goes!

[demodonkey]

8. Absolutely Optical Scan!

Hand down better because the paper is actually marked by the voter and MUCH easier to recount or audit.

[wildflowergardener]

9. No choice - had to use touch screen

Well, when I got there optical scan was not a choice, for some reason, though I'd just read we'd had a choice.

My father said they had them at his polling place, but they weren't allowed to use them.

They had some of the punch ones, but the poll worker said you might as well use the touchscreen - you won't have a choice next time. I suppose I could have fought to be able to use the punch one - but I figured for a primary, why bother.

I'm not sure what happened. My father said when he got there they were having all kinds of trouble with the machines - I though he said the optical scan ones - maybe that's why they couldn't use them.

I'll have to wait and see if I hear anything about what happened.

Meg