Tuesday I voted in my local primary. No, you don’t get to know how I voted. That’s the beauty of a secret ballot.
There was one interesting change in my town’s voting procedure. In the past we’d mark paper ballots. Then the ballots were scanned into a machine and counted. The beauty of that system was the paper ballots. In case of a recount there were actual physical ballots. This year they did away with the machine entirely and went to hand counting paper ballots. It’s not that hard to do, especially in the small town I live in.
The reason they got ride of the machine count? The machine was getting old and the servicing company had difficulty getting parts. Rather than spend town funds on a new machine they decided to go old school. That’s the sort of frugality I expect from the Yankee farmers that make up much of the town leadership.
To make the count work they needed volunteers from both parties to do the hand count. They had no difficulty getting enough qualified people for the job. Everyone, no matter the party, worked together to make sure the election went smoothly. That’s the way it’s supposed to work.
-Sixbears
