Monday, May 2, 2011

Election Day - Denver Style

Tuesday, May 3, is Election Day in Denver.  The former mayor of Denver, John Hickenlooper, became the Governor of Colorado in January, and a temporary mayor has been in charge of the city since then.

I've voted for 40 years in at least a half dozen states, using old-fashioned voting booths with levers, poking holes in the ballots with a small sharp tool, and, most recently, using touch screen computerized ballots.  But, yet again, I've been surprised here.  

For this election (and I'm not sure if it's this way for every election since this is the first since we've moved here), we received ballots in the mail that look like this:


The voter is given the option of mailing back the ballot or dropping it off at a number of designated locations.  There are even some drive-through spots listed.  There was no information on actual polling places.

According to the instructions, you can use pencil or pen, black or blue, and you are supposed to connect the arrow next to the person who you want to vote for, as shown below:


Of course, I started obsessing over how thick the line should be, how many times to go over the line, just to be sure that the vote would be obvious.

Then, after you've drawn your lines, the ballot gets put in a "secrecy sleeve" and then an envelope that you sign, swearing that you're an eligible voter.


The envelope can be dropped off by anyone at one of the many designated drop-off spots.

Maybe it's because I'm from New Jersey, where election fraud is an art form, but does this seem a bit too nonchalant to anyone else?  Or can you imagine how this would have played in Palm Beach County, Florida in 2000?

No comments:

Post a Comment