A couple of letters to the editor today in the Virginian Pilot raise the issue of privacy in voting [1, 2]. I’ll ask the same question I asked back in 2005: given that we have computerized voting machines, why can’t they be programmed to allow the voter to choose whether they want a Republican or Democratic ballot? Seems to me that would solve two problems. First, it would allow voters to truly keep their political affiliations secret. After all, we don’t register by party in VA.
Second, it would eliminate election workers asking the wrong question. I actually had someone contact me Tuesday about an election official asking a voter what party they were registered for (one of those people who is obviously unaware that we don’t register by party) and then giving them the ballot on that basis. (Yes, I reported it.) The correct question was what the well-trained election official asked me when I went to vote: would you like a Republican or Democratic ballot?
Secret ballots are a part of our democracy (one of the many reasons I dislike caucuses) and should be something that is protected from undue influence. A simple reprogramming of the machines seems like a easy fix.
Never thought about it. Great idea.
Posted by MB | Friday, February 15, 2008, 1:02 pmGreat idea, indeed, but I can tell you that the reprogramming is not simple, and may even require hardware changes to run two separate elections.
Even simpler would be to just put ALL on the primary candidates on one ballot. When the tallies come out, the parties can figure out how to allocate their delegates.
Posted by Anon E. Mouse | Friday, February 15, 2008, 9:07 pmMouse, that doesn’t make sense because the machines right now tally two separate elections. They don’t use separate machines. All they are doing is using the access card to tell the machine which ballot to display.
As for putting all the names on one ballot – that list would be a mile long
Posted by vjp | Friday, February 15, 2008, 9:12 pmReally? In my district we had separate machines.
If the list is too long, we could do a butterfly ballot.
Posted by Anon E. Mouse | Friday, February 15, 2008, 10:22 pmSeparate machines? Heck, that’s even worse than discreetly asking people to choose. What kind of machines are in use there? Do they use op-scan ballots? Ours are the DRE ones.
Posted by vjp | Friday, February 15, 2008, 10:26 pmWell, we generally have two precincts voting in the same place, and three machines per precinct, so I guess it was easier to use different machines for the different elections.
Posted by Anon E. Mouse | Saturday, February 16, 2008, 8:32 amIn any event, your suggestion has merit.
Posted by Anon E. Mouse | Saturday, February 16, 2008, 8:32 am