Election 2004: Vote Early and OftenRunning behind
Sunday, October 31, 2004, 03:22 PM
Two days in a row without posts means 6 posts today. Yow! I have an excuse: housewarming party and preparation. We moved in in mid-March, so if we put off the house-warming any longer we'd be ready to move out by then.
Friday I finally got the rest of the information about paper ballots in Alameda County. Here's the scoop:
If you don't want to use the electronic machines in California, you have the right to ask for (and get) a paper ballot as an alternative in one of the 10 counties that use these machines. This includes Alameda County, where I live.
They will, in Alameda County, give you a provisional ballot. It is *not counted* as a provisional ballot! The county official I talked to said that the way they know it is not a provisional ballot and that they do not have to check for the elegibility of the voter when they count them later is that the ballot is placed in an envelope and you are supposed to mark on the envelope a little checkbox that says that the voter requested a paper ballot. I supposed we'll see if they poll worker tells me to check it, or if they check it, but regardless, I'm going to make sure it's checked.
The actual tallying of the votes runs like this: Round one, electronic tabulation. Round two: absentee ballots first, because they have already been sorted and can be readily totalled at this time (so the claim goes). Round three: provisional ballots and paper ballots.
If you want to do your own verification of these things, you can talk to Michael Wagaman in the Secretary of State's office: 916-657-2166. [This is *not* a request for a phone blitz. Seriously, they are very busy in this office, so no prank calls, please!] I asked for some written documentation but the only thing that exists for public consumption is the Secretary of State's April 30th directive which requires all of these counties to provide a paper ballot alternative.
Later in the day I saw an amusing story about how this directive was being implemented -- or not -- by the various counties. Even after a Wednesday conference call, it seems that some counties are trying to keep the paper ballot alternative hush -hush so that voters feel better about electronic voting. Because you know, if you hide information from people they feel much safer about their choices. Right?
§
