10 Sep
2015
10 Sep
'15
3:47 p.m.
It takes that long because the clerks have no idea what tab does. Watch somebody who does
and see how fast they can fill in a form. Mouse actually slows down data entry a lot.
Joe
On Sep 10, 2015, at 6:29 PM, Chuck Guzis <cclist at
sydex.com> wrote:
On 09/10/2015 02:32 PM, Jay Jaeger wrote:
Or the infamous "hanging chad" punch(ed) ;) cards from son of
Bush's first election. I got an operational Documation card reader
from Texas a few years back that was retired as a result of that
fiaso.
Oregon is a vote-by-mail state exclusively. There were no polling places for the 2000
Presidential election. Before that, we were a conventional come to a polling place and
use a small punch tool state. Never saw a voting machine. The current mail system (well,
you can turn in a ballot at several places in most cities; mail needn't be used) uses
mark-sense cards. Unlike the old mark-sense cards, you're instructed to fill the
space in with black ink, not pencil.
But cards are the operative system currently.
Which reminds me--I went over to the local DMV to renew my "papers". Since the
terrorism craze, the state has changed the rules for verifying identity to now include a
birth certificate (heaven knows why). What shocked me was the process. Each clerk took
the about-to-expire ID and a paper form filled out by the applicant and painstakingly
re-entered all the information on a simple dumb keyboard terminal, then swiveled the
terminal to the customer to verify the information and manuall correct it if necessary.
Positioning to the appropriate field was done via cursor keystrokes--not a mouse or
glidepad or touchscreen anywhere to be seen.
All of this typing, cursor movement, etc. by itself took more than 10 minutes for each
customer.
Unbelievable.
--Chuck