could a voter refuse to use an electronic box & submit a paper ballot?

[mopaul]

just curious. there are so many rules and regs and all are different in the 50 states.

if we simply refused to use them and submitted paper ballots only, with our signatures and dates, what would be so bad about that?

i'm not too swift, so i'm asking.

[mattclearing]

1. Perhaps, but it wouldn't make much difference.

The central tabulator is where the fun begins.

[noamnety]

2. I did an absentee ballot last Nov

and afterwards I felt no better about it. How do I know it was counted? I don't. It was confusing to fill out (and I'm one class short of a master's degree, it's not like I've got only one brain cell), and I was worried that if there were any minor errors, they'd find an excuse to reject the whole thing - and I'd never know.

[wli]

3. US elections are all Stalin-style shams anyway

It's not who votes, it's who counts the votes.

[BrotherBuzz]

4. California had that option

At least we had it back in November, 2004

Every voter was given the option of casting a paper ballot. If you preferred to use a paper ballot instead of a touchscreen/DRE, you simply requested one when you signed in at the polls.

[cascadiance]

5. They'll probably treat you like the Donna Frye voters in San Diego...

who wrote her name on the write-in line for the November election last year, but didn't fill in the bubble before the write-in line. If you don't "follow the rules" they lay down in terms of voting, your vote won't count, and as in Donna's case, gave the Rethugs a cheap way out of keeping her from being elected.

That's not to say that it will necessarily be counted if you do follow the rules, but that's another issue where they have to hide what they do instead of be out in the open and dismiss ballots that "aren't correctly entered", like they've been doing.

[MercutioATC]

6. Not unless you're willing to vote absentee (in Ohio, at least)

[I hate liars]

7. I tried this in Colorado last November

And my only option was to cast a provisional paper ballot that would be counted only if the electronic voting results were within recount range.

That pretty much eliminated any advantages the paper ballot option might have had, so I was, in effect, forced to vote electronically.

[newyawker99]

8. Hi I hate liars!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: