In the 1970's I don't remember early voting, and it seemed like every school had voting machines

[Quixote1818]

I also don't remember there being huge lines at my Elementary school. I guess because there were so many polling locations they were able to handle everything in one day? I remember as a kid it was kind of fascinating seeing the voting machines being wheeled into the school and it gave me a real sense of pride in the civic process watching it right in the school building.

Anyone else remember those days?




Video of how it looked but I remember bigger machines like the photo above. This is probably a school library:

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. And I remember exit polls being correct about 99% of the time, until

Karl Rove and company came along.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

35. Dukmejian & Bradley

Most exit polls showed LA Mayor Tom Bradley winning the governorship. But it turned out those polls were skewed. Respondents feared being labeled as bigots and said what they thought the pollsters wanted to hear.

There is evidence there was some of that in 2016 with people fearing the response if they admitted supporting Trump. That narrative has done a 180 - people boast of their support of Trump almost defiantly.

[lostnfound]

48. By age 12 I understood you could go to sleep knowing exit polls would accurately predict winner

Hmm.

[mercuryblues]

2. Yes

I also remember after the election was over. They showed us how to vote and let us pull the levers.

[Quixote1818]

4. I kind of remember that too. nt

[TheBlackAdder]

37. NJ now moved polling places out of schools to prevent people from just walking into them.

.

Since everything is in lockdown mode, requiring passwords and per-clearance to enter a school, it is risky to keep schools open when students are inside. Most polling places have now been moved to houses of worship or other municipal buildings.

.

[Totally Tunsie]

41. Here in RI/MA, schools are still used as polling locations,

but the schools are closed to students/teachers to prevent congestion and to free up parking facilities for the voters. Our voting records are available at ONE polling location, based on our street address.

[PSPS]

3. The dismantling of our democracy began shortly thereafter with saint ronny

It's called incrementalism. Forty years later, here we are. Republicans get to choose who gets to vote.

[SheltieLover]

5. This!👆

[Progressive Jones]

27. This is the truth. I'm 61. My entire adult life has been spent watching

the slow moving Right Wing Coup.

And here we are.

Crush it, or fall to it. Do, or die.

[PufPuf23]

28. What you state is all too true

alas.

[appalachiablue]

39. +1 Disturbing to see pieces lately painting Reagan in a better light.

Next to Trump he was at least sane and not as evil. But Dutch actually did little and was essentially a useful puppet for handlers who were very busy and effective over 8 yrs.

Ronnie also slept a lot with the beginnings of Alzheimer's, esp. after taking a gunshot in the 1st term.

Reagan's admin. began the 'govt. is the problem' era of 'trickle down' adopting libertarian ideology, like UK's Thatcher:

- Big tax breaks for the rich, deregulation of business and banks; end of the Fairness Doctrine regulating US media,

- High costs for college education pushed onto students and families; demeaning federal govt. employees,

- Dismantling labor unions; breaking down the mental health system creating the crisis today,

- Adherence to social conservatism; lack of action on AIDS research which costs the lives of thousands of loved ones including our beloved younger brother.

No mercy for the Gipper, and Bush Sr.

[misanthrope]

6. That parallels my experience

Every line and letter. I also remember experiencing a sense of civic pride when I would go to the post office with my parents.

[ret5hd]

7. We've come a LONG way since then!!!

[Quixote1818]

14. Piece of cake! Easy as pie!

LOL, just caught the ending where there is one red button to vote for all Republicans.

[brooklynite]

8. You don't mention where this was...

Most cities don't have a lack of polling precincts (in fact, probably two many; I've spent many hours on Election Day in a completely empty room). On the other hand, not everyone could vote on Election Day, so Early Voting became a thing.

[Quixote1818]

10. Las Cruces, New Mexico mid to late 70s. nt

[LiberalFighter]

26. In my county...

We were originally going to have 116 polling places but had 25 polling places in the primary and will be having 70 for the general.

Registered voters: Active (225,702) - Inactive (32,148)
Precincts: 292
County population: 379,299
County Land size: 660 sq miles

Schools were used in the primary mainly because schools were closed. Generally schools have not been used for years.

Our party assigned 256 election workers. Usually it would take over a month to get them all filled. In this case, because he found it easier to he made all calls from home instead of from party hdqtrs by himself. It took him 2 weeks to get them all filled.

For the first time we got emails from the Election Board with people signing up requesting to work. I gather the data needed on each person into a database and regularly sent them on ready to print forms. There were 278 of which 98 were assigned in addition to our regular election workers. There were quite a few of our regulars that decided not to work this election too mainly because of the concern about the virus.

The Republicans have their positions to fill and have Inspectors that we don't have as part of our group. For some reason, the Republicans have a more difficult time filling their positions and apparently even more so this election. We ended up filling 53 additional positions that were Republican positions. Some of our people didn't even want to accept being assigned to those positions.

The makeup of our election workers are usually mostly seniors. I haven't done a breakdown but the new workers likely dropped the average age down. And there were some 16 to not yet 18 year olds assigned too.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

40. I've never heard the wealthy complain about this. And there are reasons

for this. Kinda' like when I spent 6 hours waiting to vote in 2004 Columbus OH. You see my super densely populated area had about 4-6 machines per precinct. But people I knew in small well to-do suburbs, who had a dozen of them in their precincts. Even though they had a fraction of our population. But I guess it's all a coincidence, since it's never happened to you personally.

[brooklynite]

46. In the 70s I was a college student (and a Ward Committeeman)

In the 80s I was a Government Employee (and worked as an Election Inspector).

What does "wealth" have to do with my assessment?

In NYC I vote in precincts with people from every income strata (that's how Cities tend to work).

What does "wealth" have to do with my assessment?

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

47. Zip code. And the person you replied to, specifically said

that they don't remember voting being this time consuming in the 79s and 80s. So of course you didn't notice anything wrong back then. Also, some people can become tone deaf to other people's experiences because of their wealth, case in point. We're been down this road before, where you condescend to others because they have different experiences.

[brooklynite]

49. Again. My experiences today have nothing to do with wealth...

I normally vote at Borough Hall with people from private townhouses, apartment buildings, public housing...No excessive lines.

In any event; the OP frames the argument that early voting wasn't "needed" because the lines were so short. Doesn't matter how short or long they were; not everyone can get to the polls on Election Day so why isn't Early Voting a beneficial change?

[sinkingfeeling]

9. Yes, looks like the machine I first voted on.

[Awsi Dooger]

11. I remember my dad taking me behind the curtain while he voted

They allowed it, maybe because I was a very young kid. I believe I was 5. Voting was at the elementary school library, around the corner from our house. We knew everybody. That might have been why they allowed it. My parents were both teachers, although not there.

I stood there as he pulled the levers and described the process. I think he might have even allowed me to pull some of the lower levers after he pointed to them.

So I guess I'm long guilty of voter fraud

[soothsayer]

12. Remember all of the above

[BainsBane]

13. That's how I first voted.

And it's probably true that there were more voting locations then, especially in red states.

[Liberal In Texas]

15. We learned to vote on those big machines in elementary school.

Practice voting for class poobah or something. Late 50s Wisconsin.

[BigmanPigman]

16. I took my 1st graders to every election in our school

for over 15 years. I started doing it with my 6th graders and continued when I went to 1st Grade. I taught them how to vote anonymously, with privacy board (partitions between students...no peeking) and how to tally the votes...Math, Reading and Writing as well as Civics in one lesson.

They would go into the polls (individual, standing platforms with privacy boards) behind the cafeteria. The poll workers always gave me a sheet of I VOTED stickers in several languages which I used throughout the school year. The poll workers loved giving my class a mini voting lesson. "Aren't they cute" was all I heard from those who were voting as my students sat quietly on the floor, watching in awe.

They chose what topics to vote for, the choices and they did all the passing out, collecting the anonymous pieces of paper from the kids and reading and tallying them on the white board. The students couldn't cheer...silence was mandatory until the final tally. Then they got stickers. I still have them from 2012.

They voted for what game to play during Rainy Day Recess, what film to watch, what type of party to have, etc. I hope they remember these lessons as they grew up.

[gristy]

22. How wonderful. Thanks for sharing your story.

I'm sure your students remember the experience as fondly as you do.

[BigmanPigman]

24. I learned a lot from them too.

When I finally got a contract and started teaching in '96 I had a mock POTUS debate. The 6th graders were "gifted" but I soon learned that their very conservative, and often related to the military, parents influenced them enormously. As a teacher I has to remain apolitical but when we voted between Dole and Clinton most of them voted for Dole. After 3 years the school's population changed and was more diverse, I am happy to say.

[Sneederbunk]

17. The '70s was a time before the GOP went fascist.

[Sogo]

18. In 1976, the American population was 218M

Today, it's 331M. Early voting and lines become inevitable as a result, especially when the technologies and processes of voting have not changed that much since then. And some of those technological advancements in voting, like touch screen voting, are flawed in many cases.

[bottomofthehill]

19. Cast my first votes on those in the 80's

[3catwoman3]

20. I loved those voting machines. There was...

...something very satisfying about the metallic sounds the little levers made. And a great feeling of finality when you pulled the big lever, and felt as well as heard the loud “thunk” as your votes were recorded and the curtains swished open.

[csziggy]

21. I remember when our county stopped using those machines

Long story but it made a difference in the 2000 election.

Leon County, Florida had the same Supervisor of Elections for ages. She was good at her job and there was never any controversy about the elections so no one ever ran against her. Then one year on the last day to qualify for running, she announced she was retiring with that election. With that short of notice, the only person to get his name on the ballot was her son.

Her son had worked in the elections office for years, so pretty much every one figured he would be competent at his job. The first election he was in charge, we found out how wrong that was. Most of the machines were not set right. The names of the candidates were not lined up with the levers so voters were not sure which candidate they were voting for. On the day, there were a lot of people complaining about this and how they were not certain they voted for the person they intended to vote for. There were some other irregularities and by the end of the day the shit was hitting the fan.

People sued over the election, wanting a re-do, the cases went to the Florida Supreme Court who said "No re-dos." That was used as a precedent in the 2000 election.

The next election, that man was voted out and we got the wonderful Ion Sancho as Supervisor of Elections. He brought in paper ballots with scanners, which we have used ever since. After 2000, they brought in machines for visually disabled people, but I have never seen one in use.

Mr. Sancho recently retired but the man he endorsed has been very good so I trust the counts here.

[LeftInTX]

50. In Bexar County, Texas our Elections Administrator is hired, not elected

It makes a huge difference. (We're all kinda mad at her at the moment, but we'll get over it..LOL...she didn't want a voting app, so we're all doing it ourselves..LOL). However, she is extremely competent and that is the most important thing. I'm glad she's not elected. We're too partisan here and the position would be like a yo-yo if it was elected.

In some Texas counties, the elected County Clerk seems to supervise the elections.
The County Clerk is a partisan position, who is elected during the mid-terms.
We had Republicans for decades.
I'm glad our County Clerk does not run elections.

[csziggy]

53. Since our county if very blue, it has not been a problem

Mr Sancho was registered independent so he did not take sides. I'm not sure about his replacement, but so long as he runs competent and fair elections, I don't care.

I really hate having to keep up with what party an official is in order to be reassured that they will be fair. Maybe hired officials would be better, except when the administration hiring them is very partisan. It's a hard decision to make, which is better.

[LeftInTX]

60. So I assume it is a non-partisan position?

I wouldn't want a partisan position in charge of elections. It would swing from Democrat to Republican and back and forth etc etc.
I like having someone who just does their job. ]

[csziggy]

62. About 20-30 they made all the county level positions "non-partisan"

What it really meant was that Republicans that could not get elected before could hide their affiliation and get into office. Now they have managed to pack the city commission with Republicans and undermine the Comprehensive Plan which was supposed to control development and urban expansion.

Since the internet has gotten better, people have gotten better about checking candidates' affiliation and fewer Republicans are being elected, but it is an uphill fight.

Leon County is predominately Democratic but since the state government is mostly Republican, they have moved into the area and are trying to horn into local politics. They are not very good at it, though, so they haven't taken over the county - yet.

[Klaralven]

23. They were required to be retired by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 -- Congress' fault

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help_America_Vote_Act#Voting_machines

[Generic Brad]

25. And it went fast

I grew up in Minnesota and they consistently led the nation in registered voter participation. Waiting to vote was not a problem either.

[doc03]

29. A few years ago each precinct had its own voting place now we have four

of them in the same building.

[JI7]

30. I think it might have still happened like the Literacy tests in the 60s and before

But we just didn't hear about it. The country was also a lot more whiter then so things were different.

Non whites didn't have much power as we do now.

It's kind of like the police abuse we see happening today. It's nothing new but we have cameras now and more non white people so more protests against it.

I'm sure there was more segregation back then also. Even now there is but it would have been more so back then .

[frazzled]

31. I first voted on those lever machines too

But they were hardly the nostalgic dream machines we like to reminisce about. They could miscount, and were open to manipulation by election officials.

Lever machines are an amazing feat of industrial revolution technology, but unfortunately their mechanical nature is a huge flaw. Lever machines tally their votes on cascaded odometer wheels behind their back panels. A recent study found that 250 out of 800 lever machines had defective odometer counting mechanisms that would stick instead of turning over. Even when the devices are working properly, at the end of the day poll workers can misread the odometers. In the 2000 election in Boston, almost 20,000 votes were initially ignored because elections officials were confused about which odometer reading to include and tally. Although local voting law usually calls for more than one person to be present when the odometers are visible on the back of a voting machines, sloppy processes have been alleged to allow odometers to be misread or changed by unscrupulous officials.

https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/assets/media/pdf/selker.pdf

Lever voting machines offer excellent voter privacy, and the feel of a lever voting machine is immensely reassuring to voters! Unfortunately, they are immense machines, expensive to move and store, difficult to test, complex to maintain, and far from secure against vote fraud. Furthermore, a lever voting machine maintains no audit trail. With paper ballots, a it is possible to recount the votes if there is an allegation of fraud. With lever voting machines, there is nothing to recount!

In effect, lever voting machines were the "quick technological fix" for the problems of a century ago; they eliminated the problems people understood while they introduced new problems. Because they are expensive to test, complete tests are extremely rare. The mechanism is secure against tampering by the public, but a technician can easily fix a machine so that one voting position will never register more than some set number of votes, and this may not be detected for years.

In effect, with lever voting machines, you put your trust in the technicians who maintain the machines, and if you want to rig an election, all you need to do is buy the services of enough of these technicians. This is quite feasible for a metropolitan political machine.

https://homepage.divms.uiowa.edu/~jones/voting/congress.html

[Olafjoy]

32. I grew up in Oregon. In school on election days they would tell us to be very quiet.

“Shhhhhhh. People are voting.” In kinder and 1st grade I thought they were going in those booths and doing something akin to praying.

[Totally Tunsie]

38. Our schools are closed on Election Day to allow for the availability

of the schools as polling places.

[Progressive Jones]

33. In the late 70's/early 80s, I worked for a moving and storage company in Chicago that

warehoused and transported those machines for the local election board.
There were hundreds of them. Heavy as can be.
Those were long work days moving them. A lot of them went into basement halls at churches, schools, etc.
There were even polling places that were private homes, volunteered by the owners. Basements; garages.
I can remember delivering some to a mechanic shop. It served two precincts.

[MyMission]

34. I remember going to vote with my parents

After we finished supper we'd walk to the school, several blocks away, and they'd vote. Every election when I was growing up in the 60's and 70's, even midterms, they took me with them.

I also remember the party reps ringing the doorbell to speak with my parents about the candidates, in the weeks before the election. Mom was a Dem, dad wasn't. It made an impression on me, I was aware of different reps coming to talk to one parent. Politics wasn't really discussed, except when I had social studies projects during the elections. My dad defended voting for Nixon by saying he was the lesser of 2 evils.

I don't recall early voting being available, and I don't recall long lines. I was in Brooklyn, NY.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

36. In the 1970s there was little or no early voting.

You had to apply well ahead of time for an absentee ballot and have a REALLY good excuse.

Air travel was strange on Election Day because a lot of people who normally flew out on Monday morning to work all week in another city, either flew out that morning and returned that afternoon, then flew back Tuesday evening, or didn't travel until Tuesday evening or even Wednesday.

I was a ticket agent at National Airport in Washington DC that decade, and Election week was weird.

The other thing is that every single precinct had its own voting location, and most precincts weren't all that large, maybe a thousand or so voters. Sometimes two or three precincts shared space in a school gymnasium, but you absolutely had to find where your precinct's polling place was. Sometimes that wasn't as easy to figure out as it should have been.

I don't know for sure what it's like in other states, but here in New Mexico, I can go to any polling place in the county and cast my vote. The ballot is printed up on the spot so I get the correct one. Wonderful!

[LeftInTX]

51. You make an excellent point about precinct size

The older precincts in Bexar County (San Antonio) are real small. Now I know why...
They were probably created before there was early voting!

My precinct has 3400 registered voters. It is suburban and much physically larger than an urban precinct.

[Greybnk48]

42. We have to go to a Church to vote, with schools on every corner

damn near. We hate it. They have signs all around the building outside right now that are red, white, and blue that say Jesus 2020.

[Retrograde]

54. We can vote at any voting center in the county

which in addition to community centers, libraries, and Christian churches include an art museum, a Muslim community center, a Baha'i center, a union hiring hall, and the Church of Scientology.

The voting locations have to be accessible and have room for the poll workers and all their equipment, which is why church halls get used a lot. When I first voted in California in the mid 1970s it was in someone's garage.

[LeftInTX]

58. Someone's garage..LOL

Getting one of those clunky machines there...

[Retrograde]

61. IIRC, we had punch cards

Or maybe paper ballots that had to be marked. Those clunky machines seem to be an eastern thing - I've never seen them out here. For a long time we used the same type of ballots that caused so much trouble in Florida - probably because the FL election people didn't bother to clean out the chad collection areas before the election.

What's wrong with a garage? Space, generally a flat, level surface, access to bathrooms for poll workers. I've also voted in church halls, fire stations, the rec room of an apartment building, a senior living residence, and once in the lobby of an office building (I liked them - they provided cupcakes).

[LeftInTX]

43. My parents always voted by mail (absentee)

I voted on those types of machines too.

[dsc]

44. Unless you close them schools can't be used as polling places anymore

since we refuse to do anything else about gun massacres. Also, many districts are consolidating elementary buildings so there are fewer buildings now. To take an example my home town which has maybe lost some population but not a ton, went from 6 elementary schools to 2.

[LeftInTX]

52. We still vote at schools where I live.

I think we will have at least 200 schools as polling places in Bexar County on November 3rd.

Even with Covid, we're going to use the schools Obviously extra precautions are in order.
We can vote anywhere on November 3rd now, so the schools are not going to be as crowded as the larger voting centers.

[dsc]

55. Do your kids get election day off

I don't mean permanently close but close for the day

[LeftInTX]

57. No..schools are open

The voting area has a separate entrance and exit.

[dsc]

59. that surprises me

most places after the latest set of school shootings stopped having schools open to the public when kids were on campus.

[Amishman]

45. population was much lower then as well

fewer people voting means shorter lines.

[LeftInTX]

56. I waited for hours to vote on one of those machines on Election Day 1980

I think I got done voting at 10 pm. It was pretty demoralizing. Somehow word got to me that Reagan was already the winner.

It was the worst voting experience of my life.

The second worst was the first day of early voting in 2016. I waited 2 hours.