OkieBrent's Soapbox

This is too good not to share.  For more information about the group that made the video, click here.

(this appeared in this week’s Minco Millennium)

The next time you vote in an Oklahoma election, you will be voting on a brand new machine.  Each County Election Board in Oklahoma conducted a mock election open to the public Monday, January 9 through Thursday, January 13.  I participated and tried out the new machines on Tuesday, January 10 at the Grady County Election Board in Chickasha.

According to Paul Ziriax, Secretary of the State Election Board, the old machines were first used in the 1992 election cycle, but some of the computer components in the old machines were from 1990 and the technology was from the 1980s.

The new machines came about because of HAVA, the Help America Vote Act.  Congress passed HAVA in 2002 after issues were raised following the 2000 election in other states, most prominent being Florida.  Remember the “hanging chads” and the weeks of trying to figure out who actually got the most votes between Al Gore and George W. Bush?

“Because Oklahoma was one of the few states that had a uniform system, meaning every precinct in the state used the same equipment and ballots, we had more time to implement HAVA,” said Ziriax.  HAVA provided federal matching funds to purchase the new equipment, which means the state provided half of the funds to purchase the new equipment and the federal government provided half.

The new machines are much like the old ones, but improved.  Voters will still mark their choices with a pen on a paper ballot, and then input the ballots into the optical scan machines.

On the mock ballots there were choices for Best Historical Role Model, Best Oklahoma Treat, Best Oklahoma Athlete, Best Oklahoma Sports Team, Best Oklahoma Musician, and Best Oklahoma Actor.  I marked my choices for each (don’t tell anyone, but I voted for Will Rogers, Oklahoma Pecans, Mickey Mantle, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Vince Gill and Kristen Chenoweth) and then I put my ballot into the machine.  The machine sucked in my ballot and whalah! – an Oklahoma flag popped up on the little monitor with a message, “Your vote has been recorded.”

An assistant at the Grady County Election Board then took a ballot and marked it, but made some errors on purpose.  She put the ballot in the machine and it quickly spit it back out.  The monitor then showed that the “Ballot is not properly marked,” with another message under that – “For Best Historical Role Model” the “contest was over-voted.”  She had purposely voted for two choices (Henry Iba and Sequoyah).  She then was given the choice of getting a new ballot and voting again, or accepting the ballot as it was and her vote not counting in the contest where she had marked two choices.

The new machines also have an audio component for voters who are blind or disabled and cannot vote by marking a ballot.  In cases such as this, the voter puts on a pair of headphones, they insert the ballot and the machine reads them each of the choices in each race.  When the machine comes to his or her choice the voter will push a button.  When the ballot is complete, the machine will ask the voter to confirm and cast the ballot.

Ziriax told me that beginning in the 2006 election cycle, Oklahoma implemented a vote by phone option for voters who are disabled.  That option was provided in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

With Congressman Dan Boren retiring in Oklahoma’s 2nd Congressional District – that seat has seen many candidates emerge to try to replace our only Democrat in Washington, DC.

Currently there are six announced Republicans and two Democrats:

Republicans

Markwayne Mullin, Broken Arrow, Mullin Plumbing

Dakota Wood, Claremore, US Marine Corps veteran, Naval Academy graduate

Wayne Pettigrew, McAlester, former State Rep

George Faught, Muskogee, current State Rep

Dwayne Thompson, Muskogee, Baptist pastor

Dustin Rowe, Tishomingo, city attorney

Democrats

Rob Wallace, Ft. Gibson, former D.A. and assistant US Attorney

Wayne Herriman, Collinsville, Pres. Okalhoma Seed Assoc., Pres. OK Crop Growers Assoc., and Pres. Tulsa County Farm Bureau, Seed Company owner

If I lived in the 2nd Congressional District (I don’t – I’m in the 4th) – I would definitely vote for Rob Wallace.  He is an extremely intelligent man with great experience and a just all-around-good-guy.  And today some good news came his way.  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has listed him as one of twelve Emerging Races to watch in their national Red to Blue 2012 program.  You can see the list here.

I think this is great!