a NON-POLITICAL Mechanical Voting Machine Thread

[dalangdon]

Does anyone remember the old voting machines with the curtains and the levers? I remember my parents taking me in with them when they would vote when I was a kid, and we borrowed them from the county for our student council elections in high school, and they still were still in use in Iowa when I started voting in the Federal elections in 1984. To me they are still the epitome of what voting should be.

They must have been very intricate: The one lever would close the curtains and reset the machine, then you would either move a lever for the individual candidates, or pull the party-ticket lever, and when you pulled the first lever again, it would record your vote and open the curtain back up.

Boy, those were neat machines. Does anyone else remember them?

 

[jasonl]

YES

We had them in Lousiana up until the late 90s when they went digital. I loved those old things. Turn the knob and the curtains closed. Flip desired levers. Then when you turn the knob, a bell rings and the curtain opens. I miss those machines.

 

[steved]

we still use them in NY

 

[toggleswitch]

We still use them in NY(C) & NYS.

We SURE DO!

 

[oxydolfan1]

Yep. My mother used to make such a big deal out of not telling us who she voted for!

I felt so...well, important, the first time I voted behind that little curtain.

 

[polkanut]

Yes, we had them here in WI also until the early 90's. One of my Mom's aunts worked at the polls during the 70's, so this made going with the parents even more special because she always brought homemade peanut butter cookies along. I always managed to leave with 1 or 2 myself, go figure.

 

[maytagbear]

Ohio

went from paper ballots, to punch cards (I always pulled mine out before submitting it, held it up to the light), to electronic voting.

My county uses the Diebold machines, and I just don't trust them. Doesn't feel like voting to me, just tapping a finger on the screen.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[partscounterman]

I used this type of machine the very first time I voted. (1982!) By the next time they had switch to the boring connect the lines with the black marker thing. Yawn...

 

[westytoploader]

Of course...

There's nothing that state-of-the-art here in Austin County...just some cardboard dividers and a fill-in-the-bubble ballot!

 

[neptunebob]

Here in Allegheny County we had the big 800 pound voting machines up until this past election. I think they are trying to sell the old machines. We now have the Diebold machines. At least the new ones don't hurt your fingers, some of the levers on the old ones were rather sharp. Also, it's easier to write in a candidate. I often write myself in, especially for local elections if I don't like who is there.

 

[tolivac]

Yes I remember those old mechanical voter machines-Would have loved to see the inside as a vote is cast!All those gizmos in there!!They use touchscreen machines out here now.Those older ones were more fun and impressive.And yes I used one in high school for the school elections-they did it so as an adult you would know how to work the machine-GREAT IDEA!That would introduce to students how the process works.

 

[nurdlinger]

Seen 'em, never used 'em...

The first time I voted was in Detroit in 1970. The election marked the introduction of the Votomatic punched-card machine, famous 30 years later for Hanging Chad. All elections in which I voted in Michigan used these. Later on, in Missouri, the first election in which I participated was also the first usage of the very same Votomatic in that area. (Hazelwood/N. St. Louis County) I was annoyed by the poll official who was intent on showing me how to use the device, and did not believe I had used one before. (She'd be 136 years old now, were she still alive) Subsequently in Tucson, the same punched-card machines were used until very recently when they were replaced by paper forms and mark-sense machines to count them.

I wonder if any place other than Detroit conducted its elections as they did when I was a small child. Before it became commonplace to vote in school buildings, the city had these small wooden shacks (painted green, IIRC) which they would set out on various street corners. There were posters on the sides, black printing on a white background, advertising the date of the election. Inside were the big mechanical voting machines, and I guess little stoves in the winter to keep them warm. After the election, the shacks were carted away until the next time.