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> One reason is a holdover from the days when the eligible voter roles were physically printed on reams of paper to be lined through in pen as each eligible vot

> One reason is a holdover from the days when the eligible voter roles were physically printed on reams of paper to be lined through in pen as each eligible voter 'checked in' to be given a ballot. Way back when, meaning yesterday? My polling place had two different people with voter lists in front of them. One was a big book I had to sign under my name (once the lady finally paged, one page at a time, through to my name), the other was a huge sheet organized by address where my name was crossed off after I voted.

pwg 8y ago
In my area, "way back when" means about 10 or so years ago. The local county switched to small touch screen computers containing the voting lists upon which they 'check off' that you have voted. But, the "splitting" of the lists into one per polling place likely still occurs, because it avoids a need to build a centralized database connected to all polling places to provide the "locking" necessary to allow John Smith III to vote only once. And this central system, were it to be used, also becomes a single point of failure that could halt voting at all polling places at once. Now, granted, there is still the issue of the fact that a computerized "check off" system can have records be "reset" to allow John Smith III to vote more than once in the same polling place. Paper with an ink pen line (assuming a non-erasable ink) is by far more difficult to "reset" to "not yet voted" status for John Smith III.
namibj 8y ago
(Germany) That would be like, last vote here. Thanks CCC for keeping the voting machines away.