I just voted with a pencil and paper ballot. How primative is that?

Ontario votes today. As always, I went to a desk and had my name checked against the voter roll, received a paper ballot, went to a table with a cardboard screen and a pencil, marked an "X", folded it up, returned to the desk and popped it in the box myself, under the watch of two election officials and a scrutineer.

Kooky, eh?

Does anyone still vote like this in the United States? I'm not being facetious; I'm genuinly curious. Is every American vote cast now mechanical or electronic?

I know, Canada has only a tenth of the population of the US. That's roughly equivalent to the population of California. But next week, Californians will be voting mechanically and electronically. Why? Seriously: why? It doesn't take that long to count by hand. Nationally, in two or three hours, we have the results from nearly all the polling stations. And most importantly, we can count them again if necessary.

It's a simple, democratic pleasure to hold that pencil and mark the ballot. I hope we never lose it. I hope you can get it back.

vs. primitive ... in a Diebold-ically sort of way ...

of course, in America, sadly ... we probably would need fire-proof paper ballots with triplicate copies

With a paper ballot, at least you have a record of how you voted. Although in Florida you'd first have to find it at the bottom of the ocean.

I think that's how voting should be done. Full paper trail. No tricks!

We've gone electronic or mechanical for speed. Stupid! We should be worried about accuracy, precision, and honesty. If it takes a week to get the results, so be it.

The Professor

I voted that way when I first voted in my hometown--no punch cards, no computer ballots, nothing but a paper ballot and a pen

it's the way to go

Still use paper and pencil. Sort of fill in the dots ballot.
Of course in my part of Texas we get very few Democratic choices.

... which are optically scanned.

the ballot cards slide into a grey secrecy envelope. we don't fold the ballot cards, since they will be read by a machine.

at least I no longer have to rub two sticks togther to make fire. Now, that's progress.

Which is kind of nice. You get to study all the initiatives at your own pace.

I guess it could be argued that the cost of a stamp constitutes a poll tax...but then you can also drop them off at many locations without having a stamp.