Brian Roth
Well-known member
I started this thread more as a "techie" branch from the "suppression" thread. My memories are from a USA standpoint, but I'd love to hear from others around the world.
1972 was the first time I was eligible to vote. I do NOT recall that exact process from 40+ years ago. However, I DO recall the machines used in Oklahoma after that time.
At the voting site, the county (state??) provided large mechanical machines that were at least 6 feet wide. You stepped into the machine's area and "threw" a large mechanical lever. Behind you, a curtain would close. You would flip little levers on the metal panel in front of you...each with a candidate's name next to them. When finished, you moved the big lever the other direction and the mechanical levers would reset and the curtain would open again so you could exit.
It was all a mechanical contraption. Apparently, internal gearing would increment for each candidate...maybe like a car's odometer. At the end of voting, somehow a LARGE piece of paper was imprinted with the tabulations and were (by law) posted at the voting site.
IIRC, the results from that large piece of paper were manually written down by election workers and hand-walked to the local government site in charge of tabulating.
In MUCH more recent times, Okla. went to what I seemed to trust. The voter was handed a thick paper (almost like cardboard) ballot and you used a provided felt-tipped pen to complete a space on the ballot for a candidate. Remember SAT tests?....same idea.
I'd feed that paper ballot into an optical reader machine and my ballot went into an attached box, in case a recount was required. I do not recall how the results from the optical reader were moved to the county's tabulators....but it was NOT via the internet....that didn't exist in the early days!
When I moved to Kansas, I was puzzled by the machines used in my new city. It was a series of touch screen pages. But, each time I made a selection on a page, I could see something printing on a paper roll behind a "glass" window next to the screen. When I was finished, I received a printed "grocery receipt" of my votes from the machine. No idea how the tabulation are transferred to "counting central".
I somehow trusted the Okla. system better....I've worked with enough digital equipment and computers to have some bad attitudes...LOL!
I am NOT one who believes that Jewish martians under the control of a dead dictator in South America alters the tabulations via Chinese lasers from outer space!!!! <g>
I'm just merely recalling the voting machines I've used over the decades, and asking others what sorts of tabulating machines they've encountered....USA and anywhere else.
Sigh...this will likely erupt into a political shouting match when I am merely asking about people's memories of voting procedures/machines through the recent decades. It's totally a Nerd Thing! <G!>
Bri
1972 was the first time I was eligible to vote. I do NOT recall that exact process from 40+ years ago. However, I DO recall the machines used in Oklahoma after that time.
At the voting site, the county (state??) provided large mechanical machines that were at least 6 feet wide. You stepped into the machine's area and "threw" a large mechanical lever. Behind you, a curtain would close. You would flip little levers on the metal panel in front of you...each with a candidate's name next to them. When finished, you moved the big lever the other direction and the mechanical levers would reset and the curtain would open again so you could exit.
It was all a mechanical contraption. Apparently, internal gearing would increment for each candidate...maybe like a car's odometer. At the end of voting, somehow a LARGE piece of paper was imprinted with the tabulations and were (by law) posted at the voting site.
IIRC, the results from that large piece of paper were manually written down by election workers and hand-walked to the local government site in charge of tabulating.
In MUCH more recent times, Okla. went to what I seemed to trust. The voter was handed a thick paper (almost like cardboard) ballot and you used a provided felt-tipped pen to complete a space on the ballot for a candidate. Remember SAT tests?....same idea.
I'd feed that paper ballot into an optical reader machine and my ballot went into an attached box, in case a recount was required. I do not recall how the results from the optical reader were moved to the county's tabulators....but it was NOT via the internet....that didn't exist in the early days!
When I moved to Kansas, I was puzzled by the machines used in my new city. It was a series of touch screen pages. But, each time I made a selection on a page, I could see something printing on a paper roll behind a "glass" window next to the screen. When I was finished, I received a printed "grocery receipt" of my votes from the machine. No idea how the tabulation are transferred to "counting central".
I somehow trusted the Okla. system better....I've worked with enough digital equipment and computers to have some bad attitudes...LOL!
I am NOT one who believes that Jewish martians under the control of a dead dictator in South America alters the tabulations via Chinese lasers from outer space!!!! <g>
I'm just merely recalling the voting machines I've used over the decades, and asking others what sorts of tabulating machines they've encountered....USA and anywhere else.
Sigh...this will likely erupt into a political shouting match when I am merely asking about people's memories of voting procedures/machines through the recent decades. It's totally a Nerd Thing! <G!>
Bri