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I’ve heard some serious horror stories about this issue today.
Across Illinois voters are noticing some changes in how they cast their ballots. Punch cards with their pregnant and hanging chads are history. They’re being replaced in several ways. In Chicago a few voters are using touch screens. However, most are using ballots that are filled with a pen and then scanned and recorded by machine.At about half-dozen polling sites, the optical scanners that read the ballots malfunctioned and voters put their choices in a box to be counted later.
“It makes me a little uneasy about the election process,” said Linda Junker.
A few people also received two ballots by mistake. Election officials warn it will likely take a little longer for results to roll in Tuesday night.
“They’re just not going to come in as fast as in the past because judges have two systems,” said Chicago Elections Chairman Langdon Neal.
Post your own experiences with the new equipment below.
UPDATE: Charlie Madigan has lots more.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 4:28 pm
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I hate those crappy fill ins. You have to fill them in with a pen, it took me twice as long to vote. Then, just to make sure they were all filled in I went back over them. Then they scanned the paper through the machine. Oy, I hate that system. I would rather go back to the punch voting. It was quicker and easier. When you were done, all you had to do was make sure that each vote was punched the whole way through with no hanging or pregnant chads. oy…
Comment by Lovie's Leather Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 4:33 pm
OK, why does Chicago have TWO different voting systems ?!? Can’t they institute a univeral method, so all ballots are cast and read the same way ? They’re just asking for problems and fraud — surprise, surprise.
David Orr and the Chicago Election Commissioners should be ashamed of their incompetence.
And by the way, there should be some scrutiny of Early Voting. I voted early in the suburbs a couple of weeks ago, only to watch in horror as a clerk simply threw my sealed ballot on a desk amid an open pile envelopes.
Needless to say, I don’t feel very confident about “ballot security” with that system.
Comment by Voter Early & Often Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 4:35 pm
I also was given two ballots in Cass County.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 4:41 pm
CLTV just showed video of EE helping a judge who got her finger caught in an optical scanner. She looked in real distress.
I’m heading over to Joe Pena’s post election party in Generva and will try to live blog from there here.
Comment by Bill Baar Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 4:42 pm
It will be a long evening at Election Central in downtown Chicago.
This is just the primary. I just can’t WAIT to see what happens there in November! Oy!
They will need an Asst. Atty Gen. at every desk. With a camera. With plenty of coffee.
Comment by Bubs Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 4:43 pm
In my Oak Park (Cook) polling place the optical scanner apparently wasn’t working either, so my ballot went straight into the box. I called the Cook County Clerk’s office to report this but
they didn’t seem very interested–seemed puzzled as to why I was calling.
Since Oak Park is Machine Democrat to the nth degree politically I fear my Republican ballot will disappear during the counting….
Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 4:53 pm
touch screen voting in dupage was very easy.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 4:56 pm
My precinct’s optical scanner wasn’t working. Ballot just stuffed in a box. Not happy.
Comment by Anon II Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 4:59 pm
At my polling place in Palos Township, the optical scanner was not working. Also, one of the election judges was talking about how a voter had pulled the paper tape out of the touch-screen machine.
Comment by Digital Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 5:10 pm
Will County has the best solution for voting that avoids Chicago’s two system approach. They use a single optical scan ballot system with an Automark “touch screen” ballot marking device for the disabled that marks an optical scan ballot like everyone elses. That way it keeps voting simple with a single optical scan ballot paper trail for ALL ballots cast - not an optical scan ballot for some AND a useless piece of paper from touch screens.
See http://www.willclrk.com/votingsystem.htm
Comment by Will County Insider Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 5:18 pm
This is our first electronic voting experience in Sangamon County, and my experience was terrific. It was quick, easy, and fun.
Comment by Lincoln Lounger Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 5:21 pm
I voted on the touch screen system out in Naperville today with no problem whatsoever!
Comment by Naperville Girl Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 5:22 pm
The optical scanners malfunctioned in WAY MORE than half a dozen Chicago polling places. I would put the figure at closer to 35%. The touch screens malfunctioned at least that amount. The punch cards were a lot simpler and never malfunctioned. Only the most feeble (in mind or body) could not operate them.
Comment by Eyewitness Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 5:35 pm
All this trouble with the optical scan tells me the judges weren’t given enough hands on training before this election. My experience is many judges tend to fear this machine, however, ballots put into the manual box are perfectly safe. This is the old drop box similar to how punch cards were turned in. The judges will have to scan them at the end of the night or whenever the machine began working correctly. It takes time to get used to this style of voting, but it is truly a much better system than punch cards.
Comment by diane Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 6:02 pm
The systems are easy to use, however the election judges just dont get enough training. I think we need to really consider eliminating inprecinct voting and moving to a system of centralized polling places. I rather spend 5 minutes driving the town next to me get service from a trained professional (and have the county pay less) than do this in precinct thing.
Comment by NotALipinskiFan Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 6:51 pm
The optical scanner in the Chicago NW side precinct where I vote was “out of order”.
Comment by Anon Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 7:09 pm
I don’t understand why all the problems are occuring. Haven’t the schools been using optical scan tech for decades (scan-tron tests, ACT/SAT/Standardized tests)?
I live in Will County, and we’ve had the optical scan system now the past two elections. I haven’t heard of many problems with it. I wonder what makes Cook County’s system different?
Comment by Anon Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 7:34 pm
1) you didn;t have to fill in the whole circle.
2) cassandra, if OP is a Dem stronghold, why would they care who you voted for in the GOP primary?
Comment by SenorAnon Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 8:59 pm
There have been numerous problems found throughout Chicago. In at least four precincts of the Northwest Side 41st Ward the voting machines show no results. In 14 precincts in this ward, voters were turned away do to changes in polling locations or judges not showing up on time. Former State Rep. Ralph Caparelli (the Democratic Committeeman) is an embarassment to democracy and the Democratic Party. You can be certain that Caparelli will be challenged for re-election in 2008.
Elsewhere, we have reports of judges in the 37th and 29th Wards denying pollwatchers an opportunity to obtain tapes (In fact, the pollwatchers were locked up). I fear we will be hearing of more outrages in the hours ahead. Anyone who wishes to report similar problems to the Illinois Committee for Honest Government (where we may put them together as evidence in possible legal action). please call the ICHG immediately at 773/744-8839.
RANDALL SHERMAN
Secretary/Treasurer, Illinois Committee for Honest Government, Chicago
shermanrandall@hotmail.com
Comment by Randall Sherman Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 9:16 pm
“You can be certain that Caparelli will be challenged for re-election in 2008.”
surely he trembles tonight
Comment by gooniegoogoo Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 9:33 pm
I served as an election judge today, and there were a few problems that I saw:
1. The board of elections wasn’t prepared. Our touch screen did not have printer paper (meaning it was inoperable), and even though we made our first call at 5:15 am, it wasn’t fixed until 4:30 pm. Our optical scanner didn’t include the key to turn it on–making it inoperable too (that got fixed pretty quickly). If those things had worked, our polling place would have run much smoother.
2. Judge training and selection is terrible. I was a first time judge, and I attended the election training. 3 hours of getting barked at by angry election workers who refused to answer any of our questions, but scolded us like 5 year olds when we tried to ask one another questions. The training only focused on the new equipment…way too long for tech savvy folks (generally younger)–I got it in about 10 minutes, and way too short for people that aren’t tech savvy (one of my fellow judges kept trying to jam the disk into the printer). Also, the test they give you (at the end of the training) doesn’t ask any questions that were gone over in the training, and has the answers on the back (and, I don’t even think they collected it).
3. Judges that have been judging forever, so they just don’t follow the rules. I apprecaite veteran judges, who know all the voters, and I appreciated the snacks our precinct captain kept bringing over…but the judges didn’t lock up any of the ballot boxes, asked some campaign staffpeople to help us count ballots, and looked over *everyone’s* shoulder while they voted. As the newbie, none of my ideas (or suggestions, or pointing out of the “rules”) were listened to, and I was stuck in the corner with the touch screen all day (which–remember– was broken). I don’t think that my judges were shady in any way, but I also don’t think they even thought about trying to keep the polling place as clean as possible.
In my own defense, once the touch screen was working, it worked perfectly, and everyone said it was great (and I didn’t look at their vote).
What I think this meant, today, is that across the city, voters came into polling places that weren’t ready to go, with equipment that didn’t work, judges that didn’t know how to correctly run a polling place, a lack of confidentiality, and frustration that with all this new equipment and judges sitting around no one can figure out how to just cast their damn vote!
Comment by Chicago Girl Tuesday, Mar 21, 06 @ 10:16 pm
Big Big Problem I have with the Chicago system is that you hand the ballot to the Election Judge to put into the counter. I DON’T WANT an election judge to be able to look down at my ballot to see if I voted for such and such. It doesn’t sound like much and I didn’t think the judge who took my ballot actually knew I voted, but once people of my ilk figure this new system out there is no way I will be able to vote against any but what is on the palm card (I vote that way 99.99999% of the time in case anyone figures out who I am, but I still think it is wrong for someone to actually see my ballot before it becomes part of the announomus pile.
Comment by anon Wednesday, Mar 22, 06 @ 2:37 am
anon 2:37 am: The judge isn’t supposed to touch your ballot. You are supposed to feed it through the machine. There should be NO WAY the judge can see your vote, unless you physically call them over for help and show them your ballot.
Comment by Chicago Girl Wednesday, Mar 22, 06 @ 9:41 am
Judges that have been judging forever, so they just don’t follow the rules. I apprecaite veteran judges, who know all the voters, and I appreciated the snacks our precinct captain kept bringing over…but the judges didn’t lock up any of the ballot boxes, asked some campaign staffpeople to help us count ballots, and looked over *everyone’s* shoulder while they voted. As the newbie, none of my ideas (or suggestions, or pointing out of the “rulesâ€) were listened to, and I was stuck in the corner with the touch screen all day (which–remember– was broken). I don’t think that my judges were shady in any way, but I also don’t think they even thought about trying to keep the polling place as clean as possible.
Chicago Girl, I do agree with you. I am an older judge (I’m 42 but have been doing Election Judging since 1988). I have seen people just want to do what they knew from the past - I’ve done it myself. But I find when I follow the closing instructions to the T, we finish faster.
I’m in Champaign County in the City of Champaign and our tabulator broke after 3 votes. We called about 6:10 a.m. and 50+ people later, the repair guy got there. I think it might have been a couple hours I’m not mad, but you expect the equipment to work. The county pays all this money and the first time it’s used, it has some major glitch. I am glad for the emergency hatch.
As for training, we get excellent training in Champaign County. We can ask questions and was even able to try out the equipment on demonstrator ballots. The people doing the training are excellent! At the same time, I thought this time’s training was nice but maybe they should also offer a 4 class training on “the basics”. This would include new judges or those who need refreshers or additional training on procedures and once every 5 years every judge has to go through the training. They could get paid $20 per class. Maybe have people “practice” opening and closing a precinct.
Anon 2:37 a.m. Chicago Girl is right. No judge is every supposed to look at the completed ballot or anything.
When a voter gets a ballot they should also be given a privacy cover before they go into the booth. Once the voter is finished, the voter covers their ballot except for the initials at the top of the ballot. The voter brings the ballot to the election judge so they can see their initials with the privacy cover still on and then, the voter goes to the tabulator and feeds the ballot into the machine. The Election judge is supposed to be several feet away but not too far away where they can’t see the machine. The voter brings the privacy cover back to the judge and they get an “I voted sticker”.
That’s how it’s supposed to go. If they tell you anything else, call your county clerk, State’s Attorney or State board of elections.
Comment by Central IL Stater Wednesday, Mar 22, 06 @ 11:08 am
As to privacy when putting the ballot in the machine, Madison County Clerk Mark Von Nida had a staff person invent and patent a privacy shield that works so good it is amazing. I would guess it won’t be long before other counties use them.
Comment by diane Wednesday, Mar 22, 06 @ 1:15 pm