Yo Vote!

I was reading reports about voting issues on election day. Again, machines didn't quite work write, and people had to cast provisional ballots in the meanwhile. What I'm wondering is this. Don't they test these machines in dry run situations? It seems like volunteers come on election day and wonder "why doesn't this work?". For something as important as voting, they should check the equipment works the night before, and make sure those who are setting things up are properly trained.

Second, why are there only two major manufacturers of voting booths? Why doesn't, say, Apple make voting booths. OK, maybe not Apple, but someone serious? Why isn't the process of voting booth approval opened up to a serious panel that knows something about voting security?

I had heard, on one of these pundit shows that have, frankly, begun to lose interest for me, a comment that was anti-Democrat. Why do Democrats only complain about voting irregularities when they lose, and not when they win?

Simple. Sour grapes. Democrats could easily point to voting irregularites even in this campaign, but what would be the point? Should they say "hey, we won, but there were still voting irregularities anyway, that made the victories closer than it should have been". It seems many people complain about these irregularites, but I want to see a report about why there aren't active competitors among voting booth manufacturers.

It's probably one of those silly state laws that requires a contract bid so that all state booths come from one source, which forces a near monopoly on those who can provide these booths.

Personally, I'd like to see non-anonymous voting, in which case, voters can verify their own votes online. If Amazon can handle so many customers, one would imagine it could possibly handle all sorts of voters. I know. I know. We're still not technically savvy as a country to vote using webpages and the like.

It just seems like there are so many more solutions that somehow aren't being actively explored.

And of course, this makes you wonder, for as much as we tout democracy, why is it that we don't spend the kind of money, and get the kind of resources and assurances to protect this democracy? The process is certainly unwieldy, forcing people to head to voting areas, making voting something of a pain, when it could be far more effortless.