My experience voting early in person in CA the Sunday before Election Day
Went to local elementary school auditorium with free street parking. No line. Nobody outside except volunteers guiding towards auditorium entrance. Everyone was very polite and professional.
Upon entering I was asked if I brought in a pre-filled mail in ballot for drop off? No. I was then guided to one of five people waiting to process me. All five were available. I went to the first one who wore a sticker that said “English/Russian.” The other four had similar stickers that said “English/Chinese” or “English/Spanish.”
I had with me my sample ballot that was mailed to my home address. The sample ballot is different from the official mail-in ballot, but it does have my full name and home address printed on it with a bar code I assume is unique to me. An official mail-in ballot was mailed to my home as well which I did not request and did not bring with me to the polls. When I walked up to the person, she reached her hand out and scanned the bar code.
“Hello Will. Were you born in the year XXXX?” Yes. Then she turned around her computer screen. “Can you please confirm this is your home address?” Yes. “Can you please sign your signature here. After you sign, I will cancel as invalid the official mail-in ballot that was mailed to you.” Ok. I signed. She did not ask for any ID. “Please proceed to one of the polling stations.” She handed back to me my sample ballot as well as a blank ballot card that was made of stiff card stock and was very large like legal size paper 11”x14”. It looked like it had an identifying bar code in the top left corner.
At the poll station, there was a computer touch screen with a scanner next to it. It had instructions to load my blank ballot card into the scanner, which I did. Then I followed the prompts on the screen to enter my selections to 35 different city, county, state measures, judges, council members, local and state representatives, and of course the president. Former President Trump was available to select on the first screen. To choose Vice President Harris or RFK Jr you had to select an arrow on the bottom that said “More” but it was very clear. Then you click to confirm selections on the screen. Then “print ballot.”
Then the scanner device on the right actually prints out your ballot card in black ink with all your selections. The screen then asks you to confirm your vote selections that were printed on the actual physical ballot card. After reviewing your physical card, you click confirm on the screen and then the machine is ready to scan in your ballot card one more time. After it absorbs your printed ballot card with your selections, the screen asks one final time if you’re ready to “Yes - Cast my ballot” with a clear button in the center or “No - Read back my ballot.” After hitting “Cast” you get a very satisfying confirmation screen.
Looking at the back of the scanner machine, it looks like the ballot cards go into a secure style anti-tampering lock box.
Once I was done pretty much every volunteer was so excited to make sure I got an “I Voted” sticker, which I proudly wore!
Overall, I’m satisfied that my vote will be counted. But I would’ve felt better if I was asked for my ID, or if I was supposed to provide my birth year, or if I was supposed to provide my address. I’m grateful there were no issues like I had voted already. I don’t know how the process would’ve been different if I didn’t bring my sample ballot which had a bar code on the back to scan. I’m grateful for the option to vote early to better fit my busy schedule and exercise my right to vote.
Hope sharing my experience was helpful. Go out and vote!
It's so different from the process in India. We can't cast early votes. We don't use ballots. We have an electronic voting machine where we just have to tap the button for our choice.
Thanks it's good information.
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Does it differ by province or is it the exact same for all billion people across the country?
In USA, every state makes up its own rules and methods on how to collect votes!
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151 sats \ 1 reply \ @IamSINGLE 4 Nov
All the same for a 1.5 billion people. But we have more elections than usa because here the system is tripolar.
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Does election integrity ever come up as an issue or do most voters believe the system is fair and accurate?
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It's interesting to hear that Trump was on the first page, with Kamala and RFK on the second. I had only seen an example of the opposite. That seems like a terrible design choice, however obvious the buttons might be.
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I guess in CA the Libertarian and Green Party were more important? 🤷‍♂️
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They're definitely better, but also definitely not what most Californians are looking for.
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Have u made public what state you’re in?
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Nope, but I've probably leaked quite a few hints here and there.
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You have already leaked it by the teams you enjoy watching. And if I remember correctly, you said something about seeing the libertarian institute and visiting SN. So....you live in a certain area. But until you want everyone to know, they should keep it to themselves.
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Losing teams 🤣
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Where do losers live?
Ok, I root for the Las Vegas Raiders and the Miami Heat. Where do I live?
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You live in LA too??
Raiders used to be an LA team.
Lebron on the Lakers used to play for the heat.
We should get happy hour! 🍻
I always suspected the southern states.
10 sats \ 1 reply \ @Satosora 4 Nov
Do you think it was intentional?
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The choices for president were in the same order they were on the screen. But on the screen the text is oversized, which pushed those choices to the next screen.
In the paper sample ballot I didn’t even notice, so it was a surprise when it came to actually vote. But like I said, order was at least consistent.
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37 sats \ 3 replies \ @nichro 4 Nov
I read somewhere the order is randomized
Source: some folks in comment sections out there
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Candidate order is supposed to be randomized in CA (since 1975)
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Yea it’d be interesting to compare the order then with someone else’s ballot!
Random makes sense tho cuz I didn’t see another logical order to it.
So far idk anyone else in CA to pay attention to that detail to share.
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The choices for president were consistent with the sample ballot and were in the same order they were on the screen. But on the screen the text is oversized, which pushed those choices to the next screen. In the paper sample ballot I didn’t even notice, so it was a surprise when it came to actually vote. But like I said, order was at least consistent.
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121 sats \ 3 replies \ @freetx 4 Nov
Generally similar process in Texas, with the exception of ID is required. Also ballot order in TX seems to be hard-coded as: Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green (other).
One thing that does concern me about the process in TX, is that I don't have 100% faith that ballots are kept confidential. The process is this:
  1. Go to one of the available desks and present your ID. They scan your ID on iPad and ask you to (a) confirm your address, and (b) electronically sign.
  2. At this point, a receipt printer prints a 5-digit "ballot access code". This is given to you along with a blank ballot.
  3. Once you arrive at voting machine, the screen it locked, you must enter your 5-digit code to unlock.
  4. Finally you are guided thru loading your blank ballot into the machine and you vote and it prints your ballot.
My concern with anonymity is that its clearly possible that they have a record that links: Your ID -> Ballot Unlock Code -> Completed Ballot. In fact it would be trivial to have that connection....
I'm sure its possible that you could design an unlock code process that was purely anonymous, however how do we know?
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Yea my printed ballot card also had a bar code on it. I hope that was randomly generated and not tied to me too.
Thanks for the detailed explanation!
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What version of iOS did Texas use in 1845?
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42 sats \ 0 replies \ @freetx 4 Nov
What version of iOS did Texas use in 1845?
a pre-pre-pre-release version....but from what I gather the "Join Union" function was faulty.
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31 sats \ 1 reply \ @398ja 4 Nov
She did not ask for any ID.
This is probably unique to the US. I've voted only twice in my life, and both times I had to show a photo id
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Some states require it. CA does not
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1010 sats \ 3 replies \ @DarthCoin 4 Nov
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Look ma! I exercised my right to earn Darth’s statist badge! Haha
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A slave that doesn't know what he's doing is worst than just a slave that was forced into slavery...
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Trump was on the first screen? Amazing
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"My vote will be counted"
Hihi, cute. It's California: it may be counted, but it won't matter. (Except the state issues etc)
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Hey the narrative for who win the popular vote matters in the people’s court!
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hashtag the-plebs-don't-understand-electoral-college-or-why-America-has-states
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10 sats \ 1 reply \ @Satosora 3 Nov
Congrats on voting!
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Thank you!
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