I have to admit the concept of "super-precinct" voting is an interesting concept. In this type of voting, a voter could go to any precinct in his county of residence to vote instead of having to vote in his home precinct. This would obviously make voting much more convenient for voters.
In addition to voter convenience, there are also some other advantages to the super-precinct concept. When it has been tried in the past, it has resulted in a higher turnout of voters and it has saved the county some money. The money-saving results primarily from not having to outfit and staff as many voting centers.
The only real drawback to super-precincts is that the voting would have to be done on electronic voting machines, and many people simply don't trust the electronic machines. I'm one of those people, primarily because there's no way to conduct a recount with an electronic machine -- it will simply regurgitate the same numbers a second time.
However, there is a cure to the problem of the recount. If all electronic voting machines would produce a paper receipt showing the votes cast, then a recount count be done using the paper receipts (thus verifying or exposing the electronic total). By viewing the receipt, the voter could also be a little more sure his vote was entered correctly into the machine.
I am sort of on the fence about this concept. My own county uses voting machines that do not print any kind of paper voting receipt (and I hate these machines). If these are the kind of machines to be used, then I am opposed to the super-precinct voting system. This would just make it easier for someone to "fix" the voting on a county-wide level.
However, if the machines used produced a paper receipt that could be used for recounts, then I could probably be convinced to support the concept.
Are you talking about the concept of eliminating neighborhood voting locations, so that ALL voters have to find transportation across town to vote?
ReplyDeleteOr are you rather supporting the concept of early voting, where voters have the option to vote at satellite locations in their county, if they choose? Early voting AUGMENTs precinct voting, instead of supplanting it.
Why not give voters the choice - so that those without cars or without jobs that give them lots of time off can vote in their neighborhood?
In North Carolina, we have early voting, precinct voting, and also no excuse absentee by mail voting. We allow same day registration during early voting as well.
If you force all voters to vote at consolidated (super precincts) you put alot of votes at risk - more eggs in one basket - to fraud or computer malfunction.
Google Larimer County Vote Center meltdown.
Also, see http://www.ncvoter.net/votecenters.html