Saturday 15 July 2023

Could You Hand-Count 40,000 Ballots From One Single Site?

 I live in a German village which runs a national vote episode every four years.  Out of 4,400 total residents....there's probably around 3,000 votes conducted.....all on paper.  

Electronic voting devices?  No.  It's all simply paper.

If you wanted to vote early?  There's a process....you get the early ballot mailed to you, and you go down to the city hall area....walking up to the clerk and she pulls out a steel box that you place the ballot into (after confirming your name on the city residence list).

On election day....starting at 8 AM on a Sunday....they run a simple poll site.  You are voting for one single party....so there's not sixty different rows like you'd have in the US (one Presidential row and 59 state rows).

So I look at the US problem and ask.....why couldn't you manage a two-ballot program....on paper?  One ballot for President, and one ballot for state officials.  

If you went this path, in a single town with 40,000 registered voters....you could wrap up things at 7 PM.  Ten folks counting and twenty folks as observers....unpacking 40,000 slips for President. Just my own humble guess....the ten could count the slips in about 60 minutes.  A second count mandated?  Yeah.

By 10 PM, you could announce the Presidential race ended....state-wide.

The state ballots?  You lock them up and run them at 7 AM in the morning via a system.  

Selling this idea?  Nearly impossible.  

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