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Voting Machines: Older Is Better

In an upper middle class precinct of Northwest D.C., voting took and hour and a half at 11 in the morning, which bodes poorly for more challenged precincts at peak hours. An electronic machine broke down, people made snaking lines in the gymnasium, waiting to fill out paper ballots. Luckily everyone except me had a smartphone, […]

In an upper middle class precinct of Northwest D.C., voting took and hour and a half at 11 in the morning, which bodes poorly for more challenged precincts at peak hours. An electronic machine broke down, people made snaking lines in the gymnasium, waiting to fill out paper ballots. Luckily everyone except me had a smartphone, so the world went on. One elderly woman collapsed on the floor; fortunately, after panicked calls for 911 and a doctor, she seemed to revive. Of course D.C. national votes are pretty meaningless. But if it’s like this across the river in Virginia, it would be real chaos. I wonder what people make of this–a report about a new GOP-installed “software patch” on the machines in Ohio. Anyone there with the tech savvy and legal knowledge to know whether this is a concern or nothing?

Of course, as in many things, the old ways were better. My first votes were cast on New York City voting machines, large green mechanical devices; you got to flip the levers to make marks alongside the names of your preferred candidates and then pull a big lever across width of the entire machine to record your vote. Pulling the big lever opened up the curtain behind you, while making a satisfying noise. Why on earth change it?

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