3 ms·

How do you count a smudge instead of a complete filling-in of the oval? You have humans go over them, and people hate that. Just because you never see this is

How do you count a smudge instead of a complete filling-in of the oval? You have humans go over them, and people hate that. Just because you never see this issue doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It's just that the ambiguous ballots don't matter in the vast majority of elections so no one cares. I'm not saying computers are better than paper. They each have trade-offs.

evandena 14y ago
Bubbles seem stupid to me. It's a lot easier and less subjective on review to fill in an arrow than it is to fill in a bubble. Here's an example ballot of what I'm talking about: http://www.town.oregon.wi.us/uploads/ckfiles/images/nov_06_sample_ballot_side1-800c.jpg http://www.town.oregon.wi.us/uploads/ckfiles/images/nov_06_s...
- danielweber 14y ago
  The arrow-thing is also confusing to people. I guarantee you that election officials have had to make a judgment call about them. EDIT: Out of 1000 people, how many will get confused by this design? http://www.umsl.edu/~kimballd/polk.pdf http://www.umsl.edu/~kimballd/polk.pdf SECOND EDIT: misaligned arrows were also a problem in Florida in the 2000 election
  - evandena 14y ago
    It just seems more natural to fill in a line than to fill in a circle. Your wrist is more stable and less shaky to make a couple straight lines with a marker.
    - morsch 14y ago
      I was going to say you're wrong, but I agree that if I had to fill in dozens or hundreds of items, I'd prefer filling in lines. Your wrist is more stable and it seems like a very quick motion. However, that kind of efficiency isn't required at all in a ballot. Making a couple of crosses instead of lines isn't going to make a big absolute difference in terms of the entire voting process. You want to maximize other things, first and foremost making it easy to understand and easy to recognize clearly for both the voter and the people/entities who count.
- morsch 14y ago
  Here's what our ballots look like: http://www.leinfelden-echterdingen.de/servlet/PB/show/1416281/Stimmzettel_262_2009.jpg http://www.leinfelden-echterdingen.de/servlet/PB/show/141628... There's never been any real discussion about it being complicated, confusing or needing any other kind of design change. (Which isn't to say that you couldn't make arguments in that vein.)
  - squidsoup 14y ago
    Similar to our ballots in New Zealand http://www.elections.org.nz/files/sample_ballot_paper_copy.gif http://www.elections.org.nz/files/sample_ballot_paper_copy.g... There's not much room for error in this design - it seems to work well for us.
  - evandena 14y ago
    That's much clearer than some of the Scanatron bubble types.

evandena 14y ago

Bubbles seem stupid to me. It's a lot easier and less subjective on review to fill in an arrow than it is to fill in a bubble. Here's an example ballot of what I'm talking about: http://www.town.oregon.wi.us/uploads/ckfiles/images/nov_06_sample_ballot_side1-800c.jpg http://www.town.oregon.wi.us/uploads/ckfiles/images/nov_06_s...

danielweber 14y ago
The arrow-thing is also confusing to people. I guarantee you that election officials have had to make a judgment call about them. EDIT: Out of 1000 people, how many will get confused by this design? http://www.umsl.edu/~kimballd/polk.pdf http://www.umsl.edu/~kimballd/polk.pdf SECOND EDIT: misaligned arrows were also a problem in Florida in the 2000 election
- evandena 14y ago
  It just seems more natural to fill in a line than to fill in a circle. Your wrist is more stable and less shaky to make a couple straight lines with a marker.
  - morsch 14y ago
    I was going to say you're wrong, but I agree that if I had to fill in dozens or hundreds of items, I'd prefer filling in lines. Your wrist is more stable and it seems like a very quick motion. However, that kind of efficiency isn't required at all in a ballot. Making a couple of crosses instead of lines isn't going to make a big absolute difference in terms of the entire voting process. You want to maximize other things, first and foremost making it easy to understand and easy to recognize clearly for both the voter and the people/entities who count.
morsch 14y ago
Here's what our ballots look like: http://www.leinfelden-echterdingen.de/servlet/PB/show/1416281/Stimmzettel_262_2009.jpg http://www.leinfelden-echterdingen.de/servlet/PB/show/141628... There's never been any real discussion about it being complicated, confusing or needing any other kind of design change. (Which isn't to say that you couldn't make arguments in that vein.)
- squidsoup 14y ago
  Similar to our ballots in New Zealand http://www.elections.org.nz/files/sample_ballot_paper_copy.gif http://www.elections.org.nz/files/sample_ballot_paper_copy.g... There's not much room for error in this design - it seems to work well for us.
- evandena 14y ago
  That's much clearer than some of the Scanatron bubble types.