What do you get when you are not told when you walk in the door which line to get into? (And you realize 30 minutes into your wait you should have been in the other line because of the first letter of your last name)
A lot of confusion and long-ass lines.
What do you get when you mix slow people, who have to flip through pages of books with the registration rolls on them, and record voter turnout?
Even longer lines.
What do you get when you mix people who don't know how to use technology along with long-ass lines?
Much longer lines.
How do we solve this?
Well, I have a couple of thoughts about that.
Solution I (please note this involves still going to the polls):
Our drivers licenses in South Carolina have bar codes on them. Supposedly, voter registration is tied into our driver's licenses.
I buy a box of Claritin a month. When I do this, they scan my license bar code. If they can scan my license in order to authorize me to purchase pseudophedrine, then I don't know why the same thing can't be done to verify people's voter registration.
When you go to a concert or sporting event nowadays, they will scan your ticket's bar code before you are let into the event. If this kind of technology exists, let's use it in other ways.
So we implement this how?
A person with a hand-scanner stationed at each door. You can't get into the building until your license is scanned. The scanner is linked wirelessly to a nearby computer which is linked with the central voter registration database. It verifies that you are registered. The person with the scanner verifies that you are the person pictured on the license. And you're good to go.
Then they tell you which of the (and let's not do two lines, let's do three or four) lines to split off to.
Things would go much faster.
Solution II:
I get that the integrity of the process needs to be maintained and that making sure the person voting is who they say they are is part of maintaining that integrity. So really, this solution might not be as practical as of yet given the limitations of technology from multiple standpoints... but, here goes.
When someone registers to vote, they file either a fingerprint or retinal scan (or both). And preferably this be done when they get their driver's license and all of that data linked between the DMV and Voter Services' offices.
When it comes time to vote, you go to your computer. You go to your state's election office's website. It prompts you for some login credentials - including your name, birthday, registration number, and a Personal Indentification Number that you create upon your initial registration to vote.
Then you use the web-cam in your computer for your retinal scan and/or the fingerprint reader for further security and to complete your login.
Then you come to a page or pages that has all your ballot. You cast your vote. You hit submit - and then the system submits your ballot and locks you out from further use until the next election.
And in conclusion...
OK, the realistic application of either method may not yet be practical. But one could only hope.
Here's another thing to consider... but this idea has it's own issues also.
There is no reason why in this day and age that as votes are cast on these electronic machines that the votes cannot be submitted in real-time, electronically, into any database in which they need to be registered so that a running count of the votes is available throughout the day, nationwide.
And here is the issue with that - if people know who is leading, it will end up not being about voting but more of a contest. The fairness of the election and of the voting could be questioned.
Regardless, there's a lot of things that our election officials could do to make the process easier and quicker. But we've got a process, and that's the most important point of all. We all have an equal opportunity to have our say about who sits in the Oval Office or who represents us on city council.
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