My day voting in NY-23

[FarLeftRage]

I picked up my elderly parents and drove us all down to the polling station.
The first thing I noticed that there were no "lever-pull" machines, instead they had some optic scanning device that recorded all the scanned votes in a computer.
I voiced my concerns and complaints that I did not get a receipt for my vote. I stated further that the machine could be hacked by anyone with the knowledge and motivation to do so and I gave the Florida, 2000 and Ohio, 2004 fiascoes as prime examples.
Their reply was that I had to filed a complaint with the county election commission and that they would mention my concerns to election officials.

The first time I marked the "ballot", the black marker ink bled through and showed up on both sides of the "ballot". I was given another "ballot" and another marker to use and had no problems the second time. However, it was just one more problem for the election officials to deal with.

All-in-all, I want the old "lever-pull" machines back...

[GMA]

1. There's no perfect system

for voting. Sad, but true.

[SharonAnn]

6. Lever machines can be manipulated and leave no trace. And no receipt.

Optical scanning systems are actually among the best, if there are robust auditing and recount rules. The piece of paper can be recounted. It is actually a voter verified paper ballot.

The optical scanning process is just a way to do the counting faster, but it is possible that the scanning and totaling program could be tampered with. That's why robust auditing and recount rules are necessary.

[usregimechange]

2. Thanks for the report

[barbtries]

3. thanks for sharing nt

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Thanks for that report. I am so glad we still vote with pencil and paper in my tiny town.

[lpbk2713]

5. And of course they know ...

... if anything is done about the machines it will be done AFTER the election.