[SATLUG] OT: Making sure my vote counts

[Charles D Hogan]

If you vote in Bexar county, you will have to vote with the electronic 
voting machines.  The only way to get a paper ballot, that will count, 
is if you qualify to vote early by mail, and we are way too late in the 
game for that.  The only other ballots made from paper are the 
provisional ballots which you cannot get if you are a registered voter 
in the precinct that you vote in.  Yes, the county elections department 
makes it clear that provisional ballots are not to be considered as 
traditional "paper ballots".  If you vote in a different precinct, on 
the day of the general election, and use a provisional ballot, it WILL 
NOT BE COUNTED.  It is only in very unusual circumstances that 
provisional ballots do get counted, ie...  Both ((a and b) and (c or d)) 
of the following criteria must be met:
a. You are in fact a registered voter in the precinct you are voting.
b. Your name was NOT included in the list of registered voters that was 
received by the poll workers.
c. The poll workers are unable to contact the county election department 
to determine your status.
d. The county election department DOES NOT HAVE ANY information about 
you, but can later track down and verify that you sent your registration 
in before the deadline, basically you gave your voter registration card 
to a sworn voter registrar before the deadline, or possibly if you 
registered to vote when renewing your drivers license.
(I've had several people at my poll site, that when they changed their 
address on their drivers license check the "register me to vote box", 
and the DPS never got that information to the county.  Most of those 
were in-county moves, and I had to send them to their old precinct to 
vote, as that is where they were still registered, and a provisional 
ballot would not have been counted.)

At this time, we all get to hope for the best.  Personally, I think 
little thermal printers should be attached to all of the electronic 
voting machines, spitting out printed ballots with the voters selections 
to be dropped in a can by the voters, and a randon 2.5 to 5% of the 
precints should be manualy recounted. If there is ANY discrepancy 
between the sample re-count, and the machine totals, a full manual 
re-count of the entire county performed.  If we get the right person in 
office, maybe he/she will push for legislation like that

Here in Bexar county, we use the iVotronics electronic voting machines. 
  I'm not quite sure who makes them.

I am an election judge here in Bexar county and will be the presiding 
judge for precincts 2066 and 2099 on Tuesday.  If any of you live in my 
precinct and haven't voted yet, stop by, say "Hi" and vote.  Who knows, 
I may even bring snacks.  Everyone else who hasn't voted yet, get out to 
your own precincts to vote on Tuesday, or do the early voting thing Friday.

If any of you, who are registered voters in Bexar county, want to 
experience what it's like to be a poll worker, let me know, I'm still 
trying to fill a couple of clerk positions.  The hours suck, 6:00AM to 
7:30~8:00 PM.  The pay is not great, $8.25/hour, (at least the county 
doesn't pull taxes from that, or they haven't so far with any elections 
I've served).  But, it is a fun day, otherwise I wouldn't be doing it.

Charles


R. Tyler Ballance wrote:
> Does anybody know which, if any, of the precincts in texas are going  
> with electronic voting machines? (Personally, I think they're a  bigger 
> threat to democracy than religious fundamentalists, but that's  just me 
> with my "logical thinking" again ;))
> 
> When I voted last year (or year before last, can't remember) I  
> implicitly chose not to use the electronic machines in my parent's  
> precinct (San Patricio County) explaining to the two little old  ladies 
> running the polling station that I wanted a paper trail of my  vote 
> because its much harder to fake a paper ballot than it is an  electronic 
> one, to which they replied "good point" and directed me to  a table so I 
> could fill out my ballot.
> 
> We're all tech-savvy folks around here, so I'm certain most, if not  
> all, of you understand the crucial flaws in electronic voting, so the  
> question is this, _if_ they only have electronic voting machines in  the 
> precinct I vote in next week, is there any way to (force?)  request a 
> paper ballot to ensure that my vote counts?
> 
> 
> What can I say, I'm young and naive, and still think that my vote  
> really matters ;)
> 
> 
> Cheers
> 
> R. Tyler Ballance: Lead Mac Developer at bleep. software
> contact: tyler at bleepsoft.com | jabber: tyler at jabber.geekisp.com
> 
>