Shoup Voting Machine To Make An Encore In September Primaries
Despite the New York Times’ 2010 announcement that the Big Apple would no longer use the antiquated Shoup Voting Machines for future balloting, the city’s current elections board is asking for special permission to use the half-century-old clunkers in this year’s September primaries.
Direct your attention to the graphic below for just a moment…
Look familiar? For many of us who live in NYC, it is the only system we know. The same NYT article notes that many of the inhabitants of this great place that I call home are “nostalgic” about this lever system, invented in 1905. But let’s face facts. The system is highly flawed.
These machines have been known to break down and cause extraordinarily long wait times during elections. And because there is no way of backing up or double checking the votes that were cast, thousands of votes can go unaccounted for should a glitch in the system go undetected before the polls close.
According to yesterday’s follow up article, “This is happening because New York City officials can’t figure out how to use newfangled machines with paper ballots and scanners — a system used with success across the country.”
But can the city ranked third on Mashable‘s list of best places to start a tech company really use this as an excuse for using the same inaccurate voting machines it used in the 1950s?
More importantly, what’s your take on the matter?
Filed under: News & Articles
