Bloomberg Got A "Privacy Sleeve" For His Ballot, Did You?

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Weeeellllll, look who gets a fancy "privacy sleeve" for his precious ballot! One of the top complaints about the new optical scan voting machines is that they're not private enough, and require you to put your unmentionable votes on display for all the world to see. But apparently there are "privacy sleeves" that you can use to cover your ballot as you transport it over to the scanning machine. Did you get one? Because we didn't, and we're wondering if it's only offered to posh people whose delicate votes need an extra dash of discretion. Here's what we're hearing from the lower orders, via Twitter:

There's more privacy when using an ATM than in the new voting process in NY. Were the levers so bad? (@mandroid)
The 'privacy sleeve' doesn't even cover the entire ballot and is useless anyway when the scanner worker takes your ballot and watches you feed it in the machine. (Gothamist commenter Gregoire)
Clerk asked me for ID 2x When told law sez no, asked if new law (no, old) & said 'I'll have to write that down' (@stuloeser)
In Brooklyn ED 101, 4 out of 4 scanners were not operational at 8 am. (@BrooklynMarylee)

The biggest complaint so far seems to be about the tiny print on the ballots (more on that in a bit), but Twitter user @backyardbeyond explains, "Ballot print is for security; nobody looking over your shoulder can read it. Hell, you looking over your shoulder can't read it." Another voter reports "Mayhem at Good Shepherd poll. All scanning machines jammed, last voter's ballot not even counted. Every1's frustrated in this room." And @ashersarlin says, "Dont forget to exercise ur right to wait all morning for five old people to finish arguing abt a change of address form."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on November 2, 2010 11:36 AM

Comments [rss]

wow 14th street

No privacy sleeves where I voted but anyway the

printing so cramed and small,who could read the damn thing

anyway from a short distance away.

sweetheat

Hmmm, I was told to scan my ballot upside down. So nothing showed to the poll worker didn't see anything. The machine acknowledged my successful vote. Simple.

Clarice City

I'm being a privacy sleeve for Halloween next year.

verbal

I got a privacy sleeve, but when I opened it that little midget bloomberg slithered out!

Yes the print was tiny, but everything else worked just fine - like's it going to make a difference anyway!

Ed

I will say one thing in favor of the new ballots. Its much easier to write in names. And I came very close to doing so this time, given who got listed on the ballot, and maybe should have.

Getting paper ballots back for part of the process is a good first step. Now we need to start counting them by hand, in public, with representatives from all the candidates present. To do this we would need different ballots for different offices, which would take care of the small type problem.

ereene

I got the privacy sleeve when I voted in Flatbush, but the poll workers were the ones who were feeding the ballots into the scanner. I don't really care if people see how I vote, so it didn't bother me really. But the fact that the poll worker was chatting me up about my vote on the term limits proposal was a little weird. He asked me if I was sure I had voted "the right way". I thought he was speaking in general, like did I fill in the dots the right way, but then he stated his own position on term limits, and it was clear he had seen how I voted. Even though this was happening as the machine was scanning my ballot, I'm pretty sure it's still illegal. He should have at least PRETENDED not to read my ballot.

ides_of_march

You should have that poll worker reported.

FelixtheCat Christine Quinns

I DID received the sleeve but the poll worker took the ballot from me and flipped it over to check if I voted on the ballot proposals which I did. I really don't care if SHE saw whom I voted for. I only WANT my vote to be counted. I voted mostly on the Green Party line.

FelixtheCat Christine Quinns

I think received the sleeve but the poll worker took the ballot from me and flipped it over to check if I voted on the ballot proposals which I did. I really don't care if you saw whom I voted for. I only voted my vote to be counted. I voted mostly on the Green Party line.

SonofTheSniper

Well, the lady started filling out my info on someone else's line in the book. I pointed it out, she said "whoops" and started filling in on my line. I made a comment about how when that person shows up, it's gonna be marked that he already voted and she said, "don't worry about it. He's probably dead anyway."

Dead people on the voter rolls?

How much you want to bet they just go down the list at the end of the day, see who didn't vote and then "vote" for them?

ides_of_march

Electronic voting machines should be banned - to easy to be tampered with. I don't trust them at all. What's wrong with a simple paper ballot and a box?

hotstepper

no surprise there, scared of anything new and different.

somehow i picture ides as the crazy old man in the park, shaking a stick angrily at his own shadow and cursing at every passerby for being a secret commie.

ides_of_march

In the early voting in Nevada, republican voters were having their votes for GOP candidates come up for Harry Reid, so yes there is reason to be concerned over these machines. The machines were also being handled by SEUI which is an outrage. True, any system can be tampered with but any computer user knows how much more scope there is for mischief when computers are involved.

hotstepper

well, when you get all your info from biggovernment.com that's the kind of bullshit stories you get. the big story is touch screens are much too sensitive and technology is really scary because those unions have voting machines preprogrammed to select those socialist Democrats. in other news: the sky is falling and an Obama plot is behind it!!

meanwhile, in the grown up world:

http://www.rgj.com/article/20101102/NEWS19/101102003/-1/CARSON/No-major-problems-at-Nevada-polls-so-far-Obama-makes-last-hour-message-in-support-of-Reid

even your comrades at foxnews aren't taking the spin:

http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/25511115/detail.html

robingee

Yeah, no one can tamper with a paper ballot and a box!

Hi, I'm ides, and I have a problem with EVERYTHING.

SonofTheSniper

Am I the only one who noticed that the "number of votes" on my screen didn't increase after I voted? And the other strange thing is that there were two different "tallys" on the screen, one said something like "public votes" the other said "private votes"... not those phrases exactly but something similar. Anyone else notice this?

JacqueMehoff

There were fewer senior citizen poll workers this time, or maybe I went during lunch hour. Got the sleeve, didn't need it. I did the entire process myself. I think it was because they hired younger students to volunteer/work that was the difference.

Joan Angelson

Forest Hills went OK except for the booths to vote in. They are too close together, and fat people like me can't fit behind them.

SP's Ghost

Didn't get one, don't care.

A) the dots are so fucking small, I barely am able to see them when hunched over them, I'm pretty sure no one else can.

B) even if they could somehow see my votes, I am proud of who I vote for, and if they wanted to know who I voted for they can ask me and I'll tell them.