Voting Day

[Tim Russo](http://democracyguy.typepad.com) has been chronicling the election snafu as it unfolds, but I’d like to voice a few concerns of my own.

First off, my voting experience was uncomplicated. Other than not getting the card to read the first time, the voting went off without a hitch. That said, I’m still concerned.

First off, what about a paper receipt? It seems to me that the paper trail was a selling point. Having to read everything on screen and verify that way was a pain in the ass, and the receipt that printed out and scrolled off never to be seen again didn’t help me either. The receipt issue was, and is, extremely annoying.

Second, [what about people with disabilities?](http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=5693) Sure, there’s supposed to be an audio booth at every polling place, optical scanning devices were supposedly available, but none of that was widely (if at all) publicized. How are people with vision impairments supposed to vote? Well, if all the other options fail, they can vote by dictating their votes to someone who _may_ cast them accurately.

Someone with limited motor skills may find the touch screens to be unwieldy–they require a degree of accuracy that many individuals with motor-impairments can’t muster. If you have severe palsy, how can you ensure that you’re going to touch the right candidate’s space? It could be a fairly long and frustrating process for people with motor-impairments. I’m thinking that there will be some lawsuits regarding electronic voting and accessibility.

The whole electronic voting thing is playing out like a bad farce. I’d like to think that the machines had been tested before today, that kinks had been worked out, but it doesn’t seem to be playing out like that. Polling places are closing down due to mechanical errors, people are angry and frustrated with the new technology. While both Daman and I had no problems, we’re also used to working with technology (being the computer geeks that we both are) and aren’t exactly citizens average.