-=> Quoting Joe Mackey to Nancy Backus on 04-01-19  07:53 <=-

 >  JM> Once upon a time, before the Florida fiasco in 2000, we used punch
 >  JM> cards. 
 > We never had that here.... the old voting machines had little levers 

 JM> We had those till the punch cards came out in the '80s.  (The first
 JM> time I voted as a paper absentee ballot.  I was living in CO but still
 JM> a WV resident).

Great timing there... ;0

 JM> After the punch cards we went to electronic voting.  This system had
 JM> a card that was inserted into the machine and an official would insert
 JM> a large device that activated the machine. One used the touch screen
 JM> and at the end all the votes were shown and if any correction needed
 JM> they were made there.  Then a button was pushed and the votes recorded
 JM> and a light came on.  The official would then reset it for the next
 JM> person. Now they have machines with something like punch cards where
 JM> the votes are recorded (same general set up as above) and that card
 JM> with markings on it placed in the ballot box.

Lots of changes along the way... 

 JM> We haven't had booths since the day of the lever.  Now they are free
 JM> standing machines here and there with side panels so one can't see who
 JM> one voted for.  This last time one now sits to vote rather than
 JM> standing and the screen is tilted so one can't stand and see the
 JM> screen.  Or very well anyway.

I think at one point our state tested a similar machine... used it
particularly with the disabled... I don't think that we still use it
though... 
 
 > Now, with the computerized ones, we have to mark the paper ballots with
 > a felt-tip pen, filling in circles... 

 JM> Sounds almost like the old paper ballots.

It did remind me of that... Voters sit at tables (with privacy
sectioning) or stand at higher tables (likewise with the privacy
barriers)... and then once the ballots are filled out, we go over to a
machine to submit it... the machine checks it, and if all is in order,
swallows it up.... there's a privacy "envelope" (actually a folder) that
one puts the ballot into when going over to the machine....

ttyl      neb

... Flying saucer: what follows a flying coffee cup during an argument.

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