My Vote Counted
Well, I headed out to Whitehead to vote about 11:00 this morning. The precinct polling place is the Whitehead Community Center which was a school in it's former life.
The line was ... well ... there was no line. I walked in the door and was next to vote.
Here's the electronic voting machine I used. The machine itself does not keep track of the votes. Rather, it produces a paper ballot with your vote stored in a 2-dimensional UPC like that on the back of your driver's license. After the polls close, another machine reads the paper ballots from each of the machines and produces the results for the precinct. No hanging chads. Neat.
You might wonder how the machine prevents voters from casting more than one ballot. Well, once you are verified by the poll worker and sign the verification form, a poll worker escorts you to a machine and inserts an electronic device known as a dongle that turns the machine on and arms it to produce a single ballot.
The polling place official explained that one needed to vote for President separately from a straight ticket. I assured her that I was voting a very crooked ticket and that you could perhaps take that two ways. She laughed.
Now you might ask why there is a door in the middle of the room. Simple. When class was in session, two rooms could be created by pulling down panels for the ceiling. The door in the center then provided access between the rooms. I've never seen this arrangement before. Very neat.
The line was ... well ... there was no line. I walked in the door and was next to vote.
Here's the electronic voting machine I used. The machine itself does not keep track of the votes. Rather, it produces a paper ballot with your vote stored in a 2-dimensional UPC like that on the back of your driver's license. After the polls close, another machine reads the paper ballots from each of the machines and produces the results for the precinct. No hanging chads. Neat.
You might wonder how the machine prevents voters from casting more than one ballot. Well, once you are verified by the poll worker and sign the verification form, a poll worker escorts you to a machine and inserts an electronic device known as a dongle that turns the machine on and arms it to produce a single ballot.
The polling place official explained that one needed to vote for President separately from a straight ticket. I assured her that I was voting a very crooked ticket and that you could perhaps take that two ways. She laughed.
Now you might ask why there is a door in the middle of the room. Simple. When class was in session, two rooms could be created by pulling down panels for the ceiling. The door in the center then provided access between the rooms. I've never seen this arrangement before. Very neat.
Concerning pic#3:
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't advertise it too much... but thanks for the story!
--TAG
Relevant Law:
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 163-166.3 - Limited access to the voting enclosure (includes prohibitions on photographing/videoing other voters and own ballot)
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 163-166.4 - Limitation on activity in the voting place and in a buffer zone around it
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 163-165(9) - Definition of "voting enclosure"
Wow! It's a good thing I didn't post the picture of the precinct observers (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 163-45) sitting on the stage!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the mountains, Tom.