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