Caio:
Actually, it depends on where in the USA you live! When I lived in Philadelphia, PA, all of the precincts used mechanical voting machines. In California, the ballots are cards similiar to old-fashioned computer punchcards; we get little voter books to mark, then punch the corresponding numbers in the card. (I think that's MUCH more complicated than the system in Florida, but that's just me.) These are then counted on what I suspect is the last working UNIVAC in the state.
On the other hand... some rural areas and very small towns still use old-fashioned paper ballots, marked with X's and stuffed into a wooden box. (Maybe I shouldn't say "stuffed" when discussing ballot boxes, heh heh.)
Machines aren't immune to breakdowns and/or deliberate tampering, as any poll worker in Philadelphia will tell you! There's talk of some jurisdictions adopting online/Internet voting but... we all know how reliable THAT is sometimes.
Elizabeth Finkler (who hit all the right holes, thank you) Granddaughter of Florence Y. Neu, onetime president of the League of Women Voters of Philadelphia. Boy, we wish she could have seen this!
>From: "Caio Rossi" <caioross@z...> >From: "Caio Rossi" <caioross@z...> > >Jennifer wrote: > >No > > Electoral College here, although I have been enjoying > > the opportunity to learn more about the political > > system of my US neighbors the past few days. > >So have I! And what most called my and all our media's attention was the >fact that the most powerful country in the world uses ballots, not voting >machines ( I don't know what to call them in English... electronic ballot >boxes!? ). How can an American have stepped on the moon about 30 yrs ago >and >voters still punch a hole to vote?! That's hilarious. > >Bye, > >Caio Rossi >
Elizabeth Finkler http://home.earthlink.net/~mightymezzo/ mightymezzo@h...
"Virtue is triumphant only in theatrical productions." --The Mikado
"Quitters never win. Winners never quit. But those who never win and never quit are just plain stupid." --anonymousse
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