JD> Re: Questions for the candidates JD> By: mark lewis to Joe Delahaye on Fri Nov 15 2013 09:16:20
ML> our ballots are all processed electronically... one simply colors ML> in a circle for their positive vote like is/was done on some tests ML> in school... an empty circle is not counted as a negative or an ML> abstain... marking anywhere else on the ballot, other than the ML> given write-in area, is ignored... write-ins are tallied as ML> write-ins and then the ballots have to be manually looked at to ML> see who the write-in vote was for...
JD> We dont do electronic voting in thius country. Federal elections JD> are run by the Feds according to the federal rules, and not the JD> provincial rules and methods, although both may be the same. As I JD> understand it, voting in the USA is done according to state rules JD> even for a federal election.
my use of "electronically" above was only related to the tally of the ballots... i don't know how those numbers are sent to the central vote collector... i believe that they are read from the machine at the end of the voting period and then verbally confered to the central collector or sent via some electronic means like email... the numbers tallied by the machine are confirmed by a manual counting of the ballots in case of a recount...
JD> However, marking a physical ballot, or changing its contents would JD> create a spolied ballot here. I find it strange that if you mark JD> an electronic ballot in mannor other then required, it would JD> simply be ignored.
what is "it"? the ballot is not ignored here... only the errant marking... if it doesn't reside inside the circle, there's nothing for the machine to detect... the machines align the ballot by special registration marks and then count from there...
JD> Granted the result would be the same as a spoiled ballot <G>
i think you misunderstood my comment about what was ignored ;)