The Buffalo News : Opinion

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Web Search powered by YAHOO! SEARCH
subscribe now

Voting machine, ballot need some fine tuning

Story tools:

My two comments are on the ballot and machinery used in this past election. First, there is a lack of any voter verifiable check at the ballot scanner. The machine scans the ballot and accepts a correctly marked ballot, however, it should display what was scanned and allow the voter to accept or reject the scanned results. Currently it is a matter of trust that the ballot was properly scanned and individual races correctly counted.

Second is the convoluted wording and confusing terminology used in County Proposition 1. “Shall there be approved in the County of Erie, Local Law Intro. No. 3 of 2008, entitled A LOCAL LAW, entitled Tax Payer Protection Law, amending Article II, Section 202, known as, the Powers and Duties of the County Legislature and Section 2612 of Article XVIII known as, certain resolutions of County Legislature subject to executive veto.” This amendment should have been written in plain English!

Furthermore, the Erie County Board of Elections placed an abstract of this ballot proposition on its Web site, which along with what was presented on the ballot, is heterogeneous and discordant with the average voter’s echelon of nouns.

Paul Baczkowski

Orchard Park


Reader comments

There on this article.
Rate This Article
Reader comments are posted immediately and are not edited. Users can help promote good discourse by using the "Inappropriate" links to vote down comments that fall outside of our guidelines. Comments that exceed our moderation threshold are automatically hidden and reviewed by an editor. Comments should be on topic; respectful of other writers; not be libelous, obscene, threatening, abusive, or otherwise offensive; and generally be in good taste. Users who repeatedly violate these guidelines will be banned. Comments containing objectionable words are automatically blocked. Some comments may be re-published in The Buffalo News print edition.

Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment





What is MyBuffalo?
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
sort comments:

Buffalo News Video


Breaking News Video

Breaking 24 Hour News

more >>

More Everybody's Column Stories

Most Viewed Stories, Last 24 Hours