One voter’s experience

I voted this morning in St. Lawrence County. From the story I heard on NCPR, including a re-broadcast of Jonathan Brown’s visit to the Board of Elections last spring to explore the new electronic voting machines, I had the impression that I would have an opportunity to examine my ballot once I inserted it into the actual voting machine and before I hit the “cast ballot” button. In other words, a chance to check to make sure I had voted for those I intended to vote for…remember the Florida debacle…

It’s not that straightforward at my polling place. I received instructions on how to complete the ballot and was told someone would show me how to use the actual machine once I filled out the ballot at a “privacy” station. From what I had heard about the machines, I assumed that when I inserted the ballot there would a digital read out of my selections that I could check over before officially casting my ballot.

Not so. Unless you actually request such a check of your vote, it does not happen automatically. Again, at my polling place, no one mentioned anything about the option to check my vote or how it works. And, what you get if you do request a vote check is not a digital read out but a printed piece of paper.

This would all be fine with these adjustments to the process used at the polling place:
1) Poll workers should be officially instructed to explain the “vote check” process–without being asked by individual voters.
2) Ideally, machines should be re-tooled to provide the voter with a digital read out rather than a paper review of their ballot before it is cast. (There’s a built-in paper trail through the paper ballot fed into the electronic voting machine.)
2) Poll workers should, in general, be very proactive about offering assistance as we implement the new technology.

Finally, perhaps because the machines are new to my district, there was a poll worker who stood near the digital voting machine ready to assist voters with the insertion of their ballots into the machine. The machine sits in a totally open space, no privacy. So, when you go to insert your ballot and ask for help, because your vote is marked in bold permanent marker (at least this was the marking tool used at my polling place), your voting choices are visible to anyone within a few feet of the machine as you insert your ballot.

Not huge complaints but as we implement new technology, we should try to get it as user-friendly as possible.

Bottom line: I didn’t have to worry about bombs exploding outside the polling booth or anything else designed to de-rail the single most important privilege afforded citizens in a democracy. If you’re reading this and haven’t voted today–and don’t intend to–please re-think that. Voting matters–but only if we all exercise the privilege.

Ellen Rocco