Critics: Fla. Absentee Ballot Confusing

[Nambe]

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP)

Palm Beach County has introduced an absentee ballot that requires voters to indicate their choices by connecting broken arrows, sparking criticism that it is even more confusing than the infamous "butterfly ballot" used in the 2000 election.

Theresa LePore, the elections supervisor who approved the 2000 butterfly ballot, opted for a ballot design for the Aug. 31 primary that asks voters to draw lines joining two ends of an arrow. ..

Election supervisors say the demand for absentee ballots is shattering records because of get-out-the-vote drives and distrust of touch-screen voting machines. Palm Beach County received 30,752 absentee requests by Friday, nearly three times the number requested before the 2000 primary.

[virgdem]

1. Here we go again...

some more nefarious BS from the Queen of the Butterfly Ballot. It seems she will stoop to everything to confuse the elderly voters in Palm Beach County. She needs to lose her job NOW.

[Fovea]

2. What, not in Sanskrit this time?

They must be slipping.

[Cooley Hurd]

3. Theresa "Fly-Me-Khashoggi" LePore...

She's either incompetent or deviant. My bet's on the latter... :grr:

[oneighty]

4. Put 'X' in the box in front

the person or (Thing) you wish to vote for.

180

[drscm]

5. What? That would be far too easy! eom

eom

[Florida_Geek]

6. this is a BBV thing and she is not the only one

Here is an example from Hillsborough County






In this Arrow connection thing, It opens up computer fraud by the makers of the optical scanners..mmmm the same makers of the touchscreen in most cases. The programmers can discard "near misses" if they want for one candidate but not for another candidate.

[Nambe]

13. Somebody works overtime on these things.

I doubt if a smart person would get involved.

[Realityhack]

25. Not quite....

actualy this is much harder for dibold or any other company to game.

The reason is that in this case spot checks would not check out. In addition it is quite easy (and quick) to run the cards through a diffrent scanner made by someone else and check the totals...

In an extream case you can check by hand and its very easy to tell what someone meant. no chad problems.

The entirely electronic voting systems on the other hand can pass spot checks and still game the totals, as well as having no paper trail to go to.

RH

[NV Whino]

7. The connect the arrow ballot

is nothing new. It is the standard optical scanner ballot for absentee voting.

I hate to say this, but if the LOLs and LOMs in Florida can't figure this one out, they probably deserve to loose the vote.

[polmaven]

8. I think you're right..

This is the ballot we have used in my city for at least 15 years. My mother will be 85 the day after election day this year, and she has never been confused by it.

The space is not gaping enough to have any excuse for not completing the connection.

A special pen is provided in the voting booth to be sure the connection is dark enough.

It really should not cause a problem...except, of course, that it is in Florida. Any ballot stands the chance of manipulation there. Even the hand counted "make an X" kind.

[FlaGranny]

16. I used to help my mother fill out her

absentee ballots - Palm Beach County has never had this fill-in-the-arrow thing before. It has always been "fill in the bubble" next to the name. The first time anything is used, it is going to confuse some people, who have become accustomed to doing it a different way. If you're old, it is a lot harder to adjust to changes. I think Teresa knows that. I'm casting my vote against her, even though her opposition has absolutely no qualifications - could he do a worse job?

Edit: And come to think of it - we have a primary coming up in eight days and we have not even received a sample ballot!! Got to check on that today.

[Realityhack]

22. Usualy

the directions are printed across the top of the ballot. It realy isn't that hard.

RH

[WhereIsMyFreedom]

9. Better than her previous attempt

Her first ballot required you to connect a picture of the Whitehouse through a maze to either Kerry or Bush. The only problem was that there was no way to connect Kerry. It was eventually judged to be too obvious.

As an aside, Bush has disgraced the Presidency soo much that the spell check doesn't recognize the word Whitehouse and instead suggests whorehouse.

[cybildisobedience]

15. funny

my first chuckle of the morning

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

10. How is the broken arrow thing confusing?

It is so easy. This is how the ballots were when I voted in Maine. If you find the broken arrow thing confusing, you've got to be numb.

[LisaL]

11. Everything is confusing

When you hit your 60th.
You gotta remember, those are mostly old folks we are talking about.
I hope since they have a lot of time if they find a ballot confusing, they will find someone to explain it to them.
As for this woman, I fail to understand why is she still around?
After all, that stupid butterfly ballot likely won Bush the election.:mad:

[Realityhack]

23. Not an excuse.

This isn't a confusing ballot. Its actualy extreamly simple. Why should we cater to those who cant figure anything out as you put it?

RH

[Chelsea Patriot]

27. Like Figuring Out How To Use Spell Check, Missy?

It's actually extremely simple.

[mbperrin]

12. What would be wrong with an X in front of the candidate you

want? Occam's Razor is the standard tool for deciding on complexity, and there should never be more than the minimum.

[Realityhack]

24. Actualy

there are known problems with that method. You have to make rules about what to do when people aren't clearly in the box. some places use the crossing point as the 'point of decision' others use any part of the mark... then if someone puts a check in or fills in the box it throws them all off...

Plus more importantly these balots are notoriously hard to scan with a computer so you have to hire more people (who might tamper with ballots) and take longer to get the results.

The connect the arrow system is actualy a bit better on many of those points and is extreamly simple.

RH

[SoCalDem]

14. Wow.. Surprising?? Not a chance..

[Dr.Phool]

17. In Pasco County, FL, $.49 postage

I received my absentee ballot several weeks ago, and I noticed the odd size of the envelope. I know that first class postage for a standard size envelope is $.37. Just after I finished voting, I took the envelope to the post office and let them do the postage.

It was $.49.

This was a small ballot, and November's will probably be bigger, and cost more. So when you're voting absentee, make sure you have the right postage.

[struggle4progress]

18. We have used these optical scan ballots in my town for more than a decade:

recent studies show they have a lower error rate than the touchscreen systems, and THEY PROVIDE A PAPER TRAIL!

[Realityhack]

21. I heard that too.

They are one of the best systems. I don't see the problem.

SOMEBODY will fail to understand ANY system. But at some point you have to say... look this is strait forward, easy, and proven, we will give you instructions and then if you F it up its your own fault for not trying.

RH

[jfs_du]

19. What's wrong with voters in FL?

My state (MN) has used both these connect-the-arrow and fill-in-the-bubble ballots in the time I've voted here. Both are very nice since they are simple to understand and the optical scanner will reject your ballot on the spot if you've double-voted (it won't do anything if you fail to vote in a given race, as I recall) and then you have a chance to do a new ballot. The ballot is physically kept within the machine upon a successful scan, which can be unlocked in the event of a manual recount.

I really don't understand what is so complicated about connecting a line or filling in a bubble next to your choice. Every ballot I've used comes with examples of correct and incorrect usage. If you can read at a basic level and follow simple instructions, you have no excuse for being confused. Even if you are, there are volunteers there to help you.

[Realityhack]

20. Actualy they are great. (Seriously)

My town uses these 'complete the arrow' forms. They are extreamly semple to understand. You have a list of candidates with an arrow pointing to each on one side. You 'finish' the arrow connecting it with its tail. Directions and an example are usualy printed on the top of the ballot. Works something like this:

- ->First guy
- ->next guy
-===->guy I voted for
- -> some shuck named George I would never vote for.

where the = is your pen mark, Very simple.

I have never heard anyone complain in town meeting about difficulty with the ballots.

They are definately better than butterfly or e-voting scheems. They can be quickly counted and re-counted electronicaly or by hand. There is no puching to worry about. and 'votter intent' is extreamly easy to tell.

I realy can't think of a much easyer/more reliable way to vote.

RH

[blondeatlast]

26. These have been used in Arizona for years, and we have a

very large senior population.

This is really very simple to understand. It would take to much effort for theses guys to make it confusing for them to, well, make it confusing.

And from what I've seen, you would almost have to TRY to mess it up in order to mess it up.