New Hampshire set to pilot voting machines that use software everyone can see

Re:New Hampshire set to pilot voting machines that use softw... by coldpie on Friday November 04, 2022 @12:25PM (#33469330)

I don't understand why that's better than just doing a scantron style bubble form with a pen. That's what we do in Minnesota. Introducing computers to the actual voting (not counting) process seems like needless complexity. Software quality and UI design in 2022 is absolutely abysmal. Keep It Simple, <polite S-word>.

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Re:New Hampshire set to pilot voting machines that use softw... by alexvoda on Friday November 04, 2022 @12:53PM (#33469883)

I suggest that your terminology is wrong.

Voting is not the process of marking the ballot. Voting is the act of casting a ballot (marked, unmarked, vandalized, etc.) into a secure pile of ballots therefore making it anonymous.

In terms of voting security the digital scanning and counting is much more problematic than electronically marking of choices on paper.

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Re:New Hampshire set to pilot voting machines that use softw... by kube-system on Friday November 04, 2022 @01:27PM (#33470469)

Because not everyone is familiar with the proper way to fill out a scantron, and some mess it up. "Hanging chad" type issues happen on scantrons -- people put an X or a checkmark through a bubble, people make a mistake and then "cross out" a bubble, mark too many options, etc.

A voting machine that marks a paper ballot for you is the best of both worlds -- it is a paper ballot, but it marks it consistently, and allows the user to affirmatively confirm their choices were recorded correctly.

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Re:New Hampshire set to pilot voting machines that use softw... by Thlom on Friday November 04, 2022 @05:01PM (#33473694)

We solved this issue by having one ballot for each party. In the voting booth you pick your party of choice ballot, fold it and put it in the box.

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Re:New Hampshire set to pilot voting machines that use softw... by kube-system on Friday November 04, 2022 @11:08PM (#33477432)

In my local elections, we vote all at one time for numerous federal, state, county, and city elections, and some of those may have a dozen candidates, and some may permit multiple votes. And sometimes we have referendums on top of that.

Were we to do that, we’d need a damn library full of paper in each booth, and someone to count how many slips of paper you’re dropping into each box. Doesn’t sound like it would work well for us.

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Re:New Hampshire set to pilot voting machines that use softw... by amalcon on Friday November 04, 2022 @02:01PM (#33471163)

The advantage is mostly that if you're blind or can't hold a pen, the computer can help you with that. These folks otherwise need a trusted human to help them -- which mostly works, but not everyone has a trusted human.

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Re:New Hampshire set to pilot voting machines that use softw... by snarf21 on Friday November 04, 2022 @02:33PM (#33471578)

If they are blind or disabled, someone likely brought them physically to the voting precinct or they can do a mail-in ballot.

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