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In reply to the discussion: Baltimore’s Election Results Are Decertified as State Investigation Is Launched [View all]Igel
(35,300 posts)I voted in Los Angeles in the '90s.
We used card-punch ballots just like in Florida. We had a ballot template, a little slot to put the ballot in, and we'd punch holes according to what the printed ballot template in the voting booth said each hole in the device meant.
I punched the holes and pulled the ballot out and went to put it in the ballot urn. I counted the number of holes and found that I'd voted for maybe 15 or 20 different people and things but only had 5 or 6 holes. I stopped, went back to the voting booth, and found that under each hole there was a small hollow. If it was full of the little bits of cardstock, it was difficult or impossible to poke a hole in the ballot over that hollow.
I think I pulled out the tray full of confetti and emptied it, then voted. Again. For real. The second time I noticed what it felt like as the card was perforated. Had the place been busy, had I been in a hurry, had I not chatted with the poll worker (a neighbor) and chanced to notice too few holes in the card, had she not allowed me to go back to the booth to have a second run at voting, I'd have cast my ballot without noticing that I didn't really vote. But there was nothing nefarious about it.
In Houston I've voted on eSlate machines. A couple of times I've gone to the machine as indicated after a person had left just to find that they hadn't finished. One apparently walked away in frustration. Another submitted her ballot but then was asked to review and confirm--and left before finishing the submission process.