So I just got back from voting here in Las Vegas. There are early voting sites setup at various points around the city. I cast my vote at a local shopping mall, a first for me. I was surprised to learn that quite a few (about 30) states offer early voting. Anyway, there were over a dozen staff members and business was brisk.
There were at least a couple of dozen touch screen voting machines in operation. I believe that all were Sequoia machines. Much has been written about
touchscreen voting machines (!) But I must say that these were very easy to use.
Having spent way too much time (in my day job) working with focus groups of computer-skittish users to refine game interfaces I have to give credit to the designers for creating a very simple and intuitive interface. And there were plenty of staff hovering around just in case.
Here in Nevada, as you may have heard, we have a printed paper confirmation. This is visible behind a glass panel on the left of the display. Once you have entered and confirmed your vote via the touchscreen interface you can see the paper receipt printing. You also are provided with an early voting receipt. I remain concerned about vote fraud in the age of electronic vote gathering, but this system was more reassuring than I expected. Actually, I'd have to say that it was the best I've ever used.
The Democratic Party, ACT, MoveOn, DrivingVotes and others are in a full-court GOTV press here in Nevada, and these efforts appear to be paying off. Seeing over a hundred people milling around, voting at a shopping mall on a Sunday afternoon is a beautiful thing.
One outstanding question I have is whether the daily vote tallies from early voting are kept absolutely secret until poll closing on Nov 2. Anyone?