I VOTED…My Story

I left my house at 9:05, drove to the cafeteria at the school to vote. Parking lot was very crowded with only a very few spaces available. I thought, with it being midterms and so many early voting, and this being North Kohala with a historically sad low voter turnout, it would be empty….but no, I was extremely pleasantly surprised. There was a line waiting to check in for some of the people, depending on their last names. I was lucky as nobody else had a W I guess, so I walked up to the desk and was asked for ID to prove who I was. I signed the log and was then asked, do you want a paper ballot or electronic. I opted for electronic. From what I saw, very very few did; with almost all going for a paper ballot. Was that because they think it is safer? easier? faster? more accurate? Anyway, I walked over to the e-slate line. I was the only one and the lady showed me how to use this machine…of which there is only one. First, I had to enter a special code. It is not touchscreen and actually has a rotary dial to move the cursor. Anyway, for me it was straight forward after I got it through my thick skull, as the lady told me…not a touchscreen…

I voted for all the candidates, the amendment proposals, etc, and then I confirmed it. The machine then prints your vote which is on the left and you look it over to confirm. Once confirmed, it cannot be changed. It was all correct as I voted.

The machine voting took me less than 2 minutes. Of course, I knew the ballot and who and what I was voting for. I returned home at 9:32; 27 total minutes to do what is an important function and a right.