I’ve been keeping and eye on the issues with voting machines and Diebold here in Utah and around the country for the past couple of years. With all the problems that have been cropping up on Diebold, and with California de-certifying the machines there, I’ve been trying to find a way to add an additional paper trail for at least my vote — and hoping that others will do the same.

I contemplated absentee voting, but the thought occurred that it might take longer to have my vote counted if I did it that way.

I have a couple of friends that will be working at the polls on Election Day. One of those friends told me that there will be paper ballots available for those who don’t want to use the machines, but that they won’t be counted until a week after the election.

So when I heard about early voting, I thought that it might be a way to possibly get my vote counted earlier. I packed up my voter registration, I.D. and a bill with my current address (just in case) and headed to Northwest Multipurpose Center with my 12 year-old to find out if paper ballots were available.

I’m directed to fill out a sheet of paper with my name and address, and then I approach the sign-in table.

Me: “Can I vote with a paper ballot in early voting, or do I have to wait until Election Day to vote?”

Female poll worker: “You can vote paper here. Can I ask why you want a paper ballot?” I’m assuming that she’s been instructed to ask this question of anyone who asks for paper.

Me: “I’ve been reading and doing research about Diebold machines and the problems with the machines–“

Her (interrupting): “Was that in Utah?”

Me: “Well, in Utah I know about Bruce Funk, the Emery County clerk who had Black Box Voting come out and test the machines and they were able to hack into it in 5 minutes—“

Her (interrupting, again): “These machines can’t be hacked into. They aren’t even connected to the internet.”

I could continue to argue with her because there’s a lot more to say – but I don’t want to get into the issue Diebold’s support of the Republican Party in general and Bush in particular or about the election irregularities in 2004 in Ohio and many other places, so I try to end it with:

“I’d still like a paper ballot, please.”

The election clerk looks at me as if I was a bit strange and at least a bit annoying, then asks to see my I.D. and logs me in on a laptop and hands a computer generated label to another poll worker, who is instructed to place my label in the “provisional” section and write “paper” next to it. She then goes to search for a paper ballot for my precinct in a big plastic box on wheels while I sign the book. I’m starting to wonder if the reason she was arguing with me was to discourage me from voting paper so that she could avoid the extra work of finding me the proper ballot.

My daughter and I are directed to the one station set up for paper ballots, and I start to fill mine in. At some point I start to realize that two of the election officials (the woman I argued with and another woman) are griping about me. I think the second woman is asking why I wanted a paper ballot, as if it were so very strange to which the other mumbles something. The only clear phrase I catch at the end of the conversation is, “Some one is spreading bad information”.

I suck in my breath and feel my blood boiling. I’m not some stupid, naïve conspiracy theorist – and I have a right to vote with a paper ballot without being argued with and treated as an idiot.

Seething, but determined not to show my anger, I finish my ballot and politely ask if I needed to seal the large envelope, which accompanies the ballot. The second woman shows me the locked red case with the slot for inserting the ballot, which I do.

___

After relating this experience to one of my poll worker friends, I am told that the poll worker is NOT directed to ask me why I want a paper ballot, and they certainly aren’t supposed to argue with me about it. I was also told that I can register a complaint with the county clerk, which I intend to do.

More info:

Utah Count Votes

Further reading:

Counting on Diebold (City Weekly, Dec. 2005)

Utah Stands By Vote Machines (Deseret News, Aug. 2005)

Emery County Study (PDF, Black Box Voting, Mar. 2006)

Diebold’s Political Machine (Mother Jones, Mar. 2004)

Rolling Stone Interviews a Diebold Whistleblower (engadget, Sept. 2006)

Googling Diebold + Utah or Republican will bring up lots more information