Electronic voting machines

[flyfishersean]

Do you think they're a reliable substitute for human vote counters? Asking because I have heard some people say they felt unsure about how to properly insert their ballots as there was a lack of instructions, and/or supervision near some of the voting machines. Some people are concerned that ballots they may have inserted improperly were not counted, this is a real issue that should be concerning to everyone. I've even heard of people being instructed to insert ballots face up when the proper way to insert them is apparently face down. Did anyone else have this experience?

[Rwede]

Do you think they're a reliable substitute for human vote counters? Asking because I have heard some people say they felt unsure about how to properly insert their ballots as there was a lack of instructions, and/or supervision near some of the voting machines. Some people are concerned that ballots they may have inserted improperly were not counted, this is a real issue that should be concerning to everyone. I've even heard of people being instructed to insert ballots face up when the proper way to insert them is apparently face down. Did anyone else have this experience?

They told me I could put it in any which way and it would still be read.

Upside down, right side up, forwards, backwards. It doesn't matter. It would be "comforting" to have a screen that says "ballot read" or something like that.

[Piecemaker]

I suspect they do tests to make sure the machine reads the votes accurately. :)
The machine probably also has a counter that says how many ballots went through, etc. Don't they do a second "official" count and release the results a few days after an election?
There was someone standing at the machine making sure the ballots were entered correctly at the voting station I went to.

[ckirkey]

It doesn't matter how the ballot is fed through the machine. Face down is a suggestion only for your voting privacy.
The machine will not accept the ballot (and spit it back out) if the form was not filled out properly, or too many candidates are voted for in a category.

[pentona]

In Penticton there was a glitch somewhere in the system. They used electronic voting machines. The results should have been available at the close of the polls but they took well over an hour after that to get them out. Nothing wrong with a second count if anyone feels something might be amiss. Look at what happened in Armstrong with the manual method:
http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-st ... htm#127056

[Tero]

In Penticton there was a glitch somewhere in the system. They used electronic voting machines. The results should have been available at the close of the polls but they took well over an hour after that to get them out. Nothing wrong with a second count if anyone feels something might be amiss. Look at what happened in Armstrong with the manual method:
http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-st ... htm#127056

There wasn't a glitch with the counters - it's that the lineups were long and people were permitted to vote past 8 pm to accomodate everyone.

[flyfishersean]

It doesn't matter how the ballot is fed through the machine. Face down is a suggestion only for your voting privacy.
The machine will not accept the ballot (and spit it back out) if the form was not filled out properly, or too many candidates are voted for in a category.

Can anyone confirm this? Perhaps someone who worked at a polling station?