voting rub
I tried to vote this morning. I went to the place and left after 10 minutes of standing in line of probably 200+ people (or more). The main hallway had a line snaking through it 3 people wide. And this was about 6:55am. A "good" citizen would have waited, but I don't want to stand in line for several hours. If the day looks to be slow, I might go after lunch and either take the afternoon off or work from home. It doesn't help that we have two precincts voting at the same location. There are supposed to be different entrances, but it is mass confusion. And like most places, they have a bunch of old folks running the show, so it isn't exactly speedy. They didn't have enough people outside directing people or even telling people where the end of the line really was. I was also both encouraged and discouraged at the number of on-site voter applications I saw in people's hands. I'm glad they're voting, but they slow down the process (and really should have registered earlier).
Sometimes I wonder about and wish I had started a company that does electronic voting. How hard is it, really? I'm not saying it is an easy task, but come on! Everything I've read about mixing technology and voting has been a disaster and I don't know why. Well, I have some suspicions, but they might sound somewhat like a conspiracy theory.
One idea I had that could make the voting process quicker is using your driver's license. In Michigan, we have magnetic strips with our info on them. Combined with the picture and a quick database lookup by a computer and you'd be "signed in" within seconds. Another idea is inspired by the trend of entertainment venues to use bar-coded tickets. Imagine you go online, fill out the "ballot", and print it out. It shows your selections as well as a bar code. You go to the polling place and scan the bar code. You visually check your selections against the printout. You click/press a button and you're done. You drop the paper into a locked bin with a slit that essentially works as a paper backup. I know it isn't quite that simple, but does it need to be that hard? Both of these ideas rely on technology that people may not have or might not be comfortable with, but if you can churn through 75% of the people in 30% of the time, you can spend the rest of the extra time working with the rest of the people.
Sometimes I wonder about and wish I had started a company that does electronic voting. How hard is it, really? I'm not saying it is an easy task, but come on! Everything I've read about mixing technology and voting has been a disaster and I don't know why. Well, I have some suspicions, but they might sound somewhat like a conspiracy theory.
One idea I had that could make the voting process quicker is using your driver's license. In Michigan, we have magnetic strips with our info on them. Combined with the picture and a quick database lookup by a computer and you'd be "signed in" within seconds. Another idea is inspired by the trend of entertainment venues to use bar-coded tickets. Imagine you go online, fill out the "ballot", and print it out. It shows your selections as well as a bar code. You go to the polling place and scan the bar code. You visually check your selections against the printout. You click/press a button and you're done. You drop the paper into a locked bin with a slit that essentially works as a paper backup. I know it isn't quite that simple, but does it need to be that hard? Both of these ideas rely on technology that people may not have or might not be comfortable with, but if you can churn through 75% of the people in 30% of the time, you can spend the rest of the extra time working with the rest of the people.