We had a nice outing this morning, running a few errands, voting early, and then hitting the grocery store.
Arkansas is not the most forward-thinking state, but I have to say that it has the best voting setup I personally have ever seen. Voting is always in a central location with easy access. They publicize it, so it never catches you by surprise.
We were expecting it to be at City Hall, but there was a sign there pointing us to the fairgrounds. We spent less than 5 minutes there, I think. Lots of parking. There were others voting and signing in, but they had lots of volunteers at several sign in stations. I presented my drivers license as a photo ID, answered questions the answers to which were on record, and I signed a screen for signature comparison and was handed a ballot.
The screens were easy to read and mark. There was a chance to review what I had marked, then I hit “print” and my ballot was created. I took the printed ballot to the counting machine at the front and put it in personally. I feel confident in the system here.
You don’t have to jump through hoops, but the sign-in process makes it clear that you are who you say you are, that you’ve registered to vote, that signatures can be compared (though that’s lenient because they ask you to sign a screen with a crayon type electronic marker, not touching the screen with your fingers or hands, at a weird slant). I don’t think someone could fraud the system, though I guess if you REALLY worked at it, it can always be done.
The only thing I wish were different is that, since we live outside the city limits, we don’t get to vote for local officials, such as the mayor, city council people, etc. We pay taxes, though, and live with the rules made by these officials. It won’t change, so I live with that. I can still stick a sign in my yard, donate to campaigns, and talk to my friends about people I hope will win, though, attend City Council meetings, etc. That’ll have to be enough.
Early voting started here last Monday and continues almost right up until voting day. Makes it really civilized and a pleasure to vote. :0)
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