Early voting

Early Voting - part II

(Let’s see if I can stay on topic today!!!)

Early voting is a fairly recent concept.  I found a link that suggested it started in Texas almost 30 years ago (so, about 1991?).

The concept suggests that more voters can make it to the polling place by allowing voting for a period of time prior to the regular election.  

I remember elections in the past where I had a night class in Sioux Falls and had to drive from Madison.  My day was full and even though I wanted to vote, I didn’t get the job done.

My experience with early voting is that our polling place is open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. from Tuesday, February 18th until Friday, February 28th and does include the same hours on Saturday (7 to 7) and even 1:00 to 6:00 on Sunday (February 23rd).  My thoughts are that even the busiest person should be able to get to vote - even if unable to vote in the regular election day on March 3rd.  

As far as the analysis of early voting, I found this:

“While early voting may seem more convenient, it appears to have the opposite effect of what its proponents sought: It actually decreases turnout. A number of studies, including one by American University and another by professors from the University of Wisconsin, conclude that states that have adopted early voting have lower voter turnout than states without early voting.

“The 2013 University of Wisconsin study found that “early voting lowers the likelihood of turnout by three to four percentage points.” In fact, the longer the window of early voting, the greater the effect on lowering turnout. This may seem counterintuitive, but that is what the studies show.”

Texas still allows absentee ballots.  I view this as a truck driver being able to vote, a military person, or a person on a long cruise.  

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In the past few years, elections have had some controversies.  In the 2000 election, “hanging chads” were the issue in Florida.  Spoiled ballots occurred because of incorrect marking - marks that were made and then changed and not completely erased.  

The voting center where I have been working is equipped with new technology.  There are no markers, pencils, pens or even punches to be made.  

As the person arrives, a clerk greets them, verifies their address and picture Identification and prints a sticky label that is placed on a record sheet.  A specialized jet ink printer prints a coded heading on a longer paper ballot. There is nothing on the ballot to indicate the individual, but the encryption that could be mapped to the record sheet.  A person from any place in the county can vote at any location in the county.  

The voter takes the long paper ballot to a voting machine and inserts the ballot into a slot.  The machine interprets the encrypted code and brings the appropriate electronic display to the screen.  The voter can use his or her finger to select a candidate for a particular office (or the eraser from a pencil)).  

There were many issues on the ballot this time and it took about 10 minutes to fully go through the full ballot.  When finished voting (or skipping some questions), the voting machines asked the voter to confirm their selections and then spit out the ballot updated with the selections for the various races (partially encrypted) which were deposited into a ballot counter at the exit door.  While I have not been involved with the analysis of the voting, I assume that at the appropriate time with the appropriate people, the ballot counter will yield the totals (electronically) and also send the totals to a central processing center.  

The state of Texas has also attempted to help voters even farther.  In our voting location, we have a specialized voting machine that can be rolled out to the curb where a handicapped person can use to vote without leaving the car.  

A person could vote and before depositing the ballot in the ballot counter decided that they wanted to change their votes - could use up to three ballots.  

Even a person who had moved recently could vote a provisional ballot.  A person in Williamson county could vote for state-wide contests from say Amarillo County!

Could there be a chance of fraud?  Possibly. The company that created the voting machines and ballot counter could have allowed backdoor access to the software.  It could be that a foreign power might be able to find and access such backdoor access. Probable? Not really. Possibly? Only extremely slightly!!

In summary, I believe that this system is very secure and the early voting system is fair and solid!!

How about you?  Can you vote early?  Will you?

Hugs!!

Karen