Election Day 2008

I got up early this morning (even by my standards) so that I could get ready and get in line to vote. I live in the complex where my polling location is (it's the clubhouse in my complex) so I didn't have to drive and I walked (okay... ran) to line up this morning. It was exciting to see that even at 5:45 in the morning there were already about 74 people ahead of me in line. About fifteen minutes later as the doors opened and voting began for the day I could see the line I was in stretched out beyond me and was approximately 200-some people long. I know; I had time to count them. It was amazing to see such a huge turnout.

I have voted in Presidential elections since 1996 and in that time I have seen the number of voters coming out on the upswing. That too the younger voters among whom I still count myself. People may think of me as crotchety at times but I'm not completely over the hill yet in my thinking (I'm still at the bottom of the hill). In those years I have voted on machines that were the old toggle switch type on which we flip a switch to vote and then have a card punched and now I'm fully into the modern age with the touchscreen voting machines. And while I am always wary of these machines, I try to give them the benefit of the doubt but still, after what happened to me this morning as I went to vote left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth and though I'm hesitant to cry wolf, I say this as a warning to those of you who have yet to vote.

When the machine was activated for me, the ballot appeared with all of the potential candidates listed and when I touched my choice, the opposition party candidate's name appeared to have been selected as my choice. Now I'm not idiot and I'm fairly well educated but I couldn't figure out how the touchscreen read my vote clearly for one name as being a vote for the other. To be a bit clearer in my dilemma, imagine wanting to vote for Superman and when you touch Superman's name the Joker's name is highlighted and marked as your vote. When I tried to change my vote (prior to submitting my ballot) it would not change. I couldn't change from the Joker to Superman and nothing I tried seemed to work. I called the election official over immediately and informed him of the problem. He told me that I needed to touch the erroneous check mark and the choose the name I wanted. In the end I got the correct name highlighted but it just showed me that things can go awry even in the face of such modern methods.

Now I'm not accusing anyone of any shady dealings but still, after two elections where voter fraud and 'lost votes' have occured in such high numbers, I'm not willing to overlook this as a case of 'user error' on my part. I know what name I touched and the default that came up on the machine was not my choice. Though I'm technologically savvy, I couldn't get the wrong name to go un-highlighted and generally people who know even less about technology usually go on touching buttons until the screen changes. The only other button that would have worked at that time was the 'Next' button that would have asked me to confirm my erroneous choice and therefore submit my vote. Had I now known what to do my vote would have gone to the candidate that was not my choice. I can't help but feel that this was not a single case and that it must have happened and may be happening in numerous places. It's a bit hinkey isn't it?

I am going to be watching the results tonight as closely as most people and I'm hopeful that the elections this year are free of the uncertainty and errors that have marred the last few. I'm hopeful that we will know by midnight tonight who the next President of the United States is. Sure the lines are long and the wait seems endless but bring a book, listen to your iPod or enjoy the company of others stuck in line with you but be patient and persevere; it is your right and your duty to vote. Don't give up your right for the sake of a day of inconvenience. Make your voice heard and cast your ballot but for Heaven's sake, make sure the candidate you vote for is the candidate you want!