Tuesday, November 02, 2004
No, this isn't a partisan thing. It's just my experience this morning: I'm hoping it helps folks who haven't voted yet to know what to expect.
1) Don't expect to just waltz in and vote, even if your voting place is usually quick. At least, at our polling place, they had fewer electronic machines than they've had punch-card stations in the past, and the wait was quite a bit longer than usual. Although, realistically, we're talking 45 minutes instead of 5, but it will probably be worse after work. Don't let that stop you, though! Your vote is important. Note that you absolutely *must* be in line by 8 PM, or you won't get to vote. I don't recommend waiting that long, though...
2) You can vote paper or electronically. I was going to vote by paper anyway, but paper turned out to be faster, too. We had 5 electronic stations and one big cardboard box for voting by paper. When you get up to the front of the line, if you choose electronic, then you get in line for the little card that makes the electronic booth work. Then you wait for an electronic station to open, then you vote.
If you choose paper, you get a couple of large pieces of card stock paper. You need to use a blue or black pen, but your polling place should have them, so ask for one if you need one. (no #2 pencils for this test!) You might have to stand in line to get to the cardboard box, but you can start filling in the form while you are in line, so you can get done pretty fast. And since most folks are voting electronic, you'll probably have less of a line.
If you don't have a preference either way, you can scope out both options and pick whichever one looks faster. Of course, it's like the supermarket. You might get behind someone who is reading the ballot for the first time, and is really slow. Like I said, though, with the paper one, you don't have to wait for a machine, so you have a bit of an edge there.
Here's a bit more about voting paper ballot:
When you looked through your sample ballot, you probably saw the funny broken arrows to the right of each candidate or proposition:
== =>
If you vote paper, what you do is connect the broken arrow with your pen:
=====>
That's it! Pretty easy. Use a nice heavy line...
If you vote paper, you get an itty bitty "I voted" sticker. If you vote electronic, you get a big "I voted touchscreen" one.
I guess that's the price you pay for being a Luddite or a paranoid software engineer! 
1) Don't expect to just waltz in and vote, even if your voting place is usually quick. At least, at our polling place, they had fewer electronic machines than they've had punch-card stations in the past, and the wait was quite a bit longer than usual. Although, realistically, we're talking 45 minutes instead of 5, but it will probably be worse after work. Don't let that stop you, though! Your vote is important. Note that you absolutely *must* be in line by 8 PM, or you won't get to vote. I don't recommend waiting that long, though...
2) You can vote paper or electronically. I was going to vote by paper anyway, but paper turned out to be faster, too. We had 5 electronic stations and one big cardboard box for voting by paper. When you get up to the front of the line, if you choose electronic, then you get in line for the little card that makes the electronic booth work. Then you wait for an electronic station to open, then you vote.
If you choose paper, you get a couple of large pieces of card stock paper. You need to use a blue or black pen, but your polling place should have them, so ask for one if you need one. (no #2 pencils for this test!) You might have to stand in line to get to the cardboard box, but you can start filling in the form while you are in line, so you can get done pretty fast. And since most folks are voting electronic, you'll probably have less of a line.
If you don't have a preference either way, you can scope out both options and pick whichever one looks faster. Of course, it's like the supermarket. You might get behind someone who is reading the ballot for the first time, and is really slow. Like I said, though, with the paper one, you don't have to wait for a machine, so you have a bit of an edge there.
Here's a bit more about voting paper ballot:
When you looked through your sample ballot, you probably saw the funny broken arrows to the right of each candidate or proposition:
== =>
If you vote paper, what you do is connect the broken arrow with your pen:
=====>
That's it! Pretty easy. Use a nice heavy line...
If you vote paper, you get an itty bitty "I voted" sticker. If you vote electronic, you get a big "I voted touchscreen" one.
I guess that's the price you pay for being a Luddite or a paranoid software engineer! 
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