Comments on: Gitelman, “Voting Machines and the Voters They Represent” http://www.common-place.org/pasley Notes on American history and politics and other matters, by Prof. Jeffrey L. Pasley and guests. Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:37:18 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Missouri Voter http://www.common-place.org/pasley/?page_id=424&cpage=1#comment-1809 Missouri Voter Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:12:34 +0000 http://www.common-place.dreamhost.com/pasley/?page_id=424#comment-1809 On a slightly related note, seeing as how it is election day, there is another consequence of the advancing technology of voting machines. Having completed my electronic ballot with a stylus, I was prompted by the helpful machine to review my selections, as I had apparently missed a section. Reviewing my choices, I saw no omission and tried again. The same helpful electronic notice flashed across my screen. Confused, I turned to the well-intentioned young man in his early twenties for an answer. "What is wrong with this machine," I asked. "Uh, not certain" was my reassuring answer. "Will my vote be counted?" A shrug followed by, "I'm not really sure how these things work." As technology advances, the ability of volunteers to sort out errors and assist voters correspondingly decreases. Thus technology certainly has the potential to be an undemocratic force, insofar as it removes judgment and decision-making from the local (volunteer) level and moves those decisions upward, into the bureaucracy. Always a fan of innovation, as I cast that dubious electronic vote I couldn't help but think that the small army of elderly volunteers would have been more than capable of assisting me with a paper ballot, dangling chads or no. On a slightly related note, seeing as how it is election day, there is another consequence of the advancing technology of voting machines. Having completed my electronic ballot with a stylus, I was prompted by the helpful machine to review my selections, as I had apparently missed a section. Reviewing my choices, I saw no omission and tried again. The same helpful electronic notice flashed across my screen. Confused, I turned to the well-intentioned young man in his early twenties for an answer. “What is wrong with this machine,” I asked. “Uh, not certain” was my reassuring answer. “Will my vote be counted?” A shrug followed by, “I’m not really sure how these things work.”

As technology advances, the ability of volunteers to sort out errors and assist voters correspondingly decreases. Thus technology certainly has the potential to be an undemocratic force, insofar as it removes judgment and decision-making from the local (volunteer) level and moves those decisions upward, into the bureaucracy. Always a fan of innovation, as I cast that dubious electronic vote I couldn’t help but think that the small army of elderly volunteers would have been more than capable of assisting me with a paper ballot, dangling chads or no.

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