vote

So I walked in, went to table labeled e.g. A - C. I told the lady my name and she flipped to the correct page. She let me sign in, making sure I included my middle initial in the signature. She stuck a sticker next to my name to indicate that I was voting. I was handed an "I voted" sticker and a piece of paper indicating what district I was in.

I proceeded to the ballot area where there were two lines; one for paper and one for electronic voting. I went to the electronic voting line and waited a few minutes for the next booth to open up. The worker then called me over and activated the machine with a bulky key-card. She proceeded to explain how to use the machine and then left me alone to vote.

The screen was average for a computer monitor. The UI was very straight forward with large touch-screen buttons. They were far enough apart that there was little chance of the wrong one being registered. In addition, after clicking, it showed a clear checkmark next to my selection.

After completing the process, I clicked the VOTE button at the top of the machine (to confirm I was finished). I then walked out the door.

The funny thing is that at no time was my identity validated nor was there any way that my vote could have been tied to the signature that I wrote. I didn't even see a surveillance camera. Sure, they could have later compared the signature, but what recourse could be taken if it didn't match?

So, what (besides decency) is to stop me from going into all of the area polling locations, picking a name that hasn't been used yet (they were easily viewable), and voting dozens of times?

Scary. So Aaron, do you live in New York, or is it a place more like North Dakota?

Aaron, this is not uncommon for a democracy at all. The principle is that it's more important to not intimidate voters than having 100% checks on every person voting is legitimate, because you can't have both.

I've worked as a polling clerk in the U.K, all we do is check their name and address and cross it off on our list, that's it. There was no signature, no form of identification, the only protection there is if we see the same face coming in twice.

It is funny how a generally advanced country like USA has so weird voting ideas.

For example, it is voted on a working day! WTF? If you want people to vote, do it a national holiday, and on sunday.

Then, they have to "register to vote". Why is that? In my country if you are alive, and registered as a citizen, you can vote.

And last, they use you identity document to check you haven't voted already.

(you have to vote on an assigned place near your house)

In Argentina we vote on Sundays and we need to bring our Ids to do so... Hmmm... What an underdeveloped country.... lol

Regarding the workday issue, most (but not all) US states have laws which require that employers give around 1-4 hours (depending on state) to vote on election day. Additionally, most states allow people to vote early via absentee ballot during the weeks before the election.

The US government does not require anyone to have an ID. We could possibly use a driver's license; but many people (especially in large cities) do not have this.

I believe the voter registration is to try to limit someone's ability to vote multiple times and also only allow citizens to vote. This is especially important since ID is not required.

I don't see a problem voting on a working day in principle. But here in the U.K polling stations are opened from about 7am - 10pm and I've never ever seen a queue longer than 10 mins long. I can't believe people stand for the farce that goes in with U.S polling stations.

kwanbis: "registered as a citizen" -> The United States doesn't "register citizens" and, as Aaron noted, doesn't issue such IDs, so the system isn't as simple as it is in [...].

> For example, it is voted on a working day! WTF? If you want people to vote, do
> it a national holiday, and on sunday.

The former would work. The latter wasn't done originally because it would have forced people to travel on Sunday (heck, that's why it's not on Monday either, because at the time in rural districts it would take a day's travel to get to the polling place).

It's possible to get some legislation passed changing this, but it'd take work and no one seems to care enough.