US Voting Software: Live User Test Happening Now!
Submitted by John McConda on Tue, 04/11/2008 - 19:45.
This was my first time using an electronic voting machine. Did anyone else have to fight the urge to test the software instead of just voting?
My polling place in Indiana used software by Microvote. Overall, I found it easy to use. It consisted of a low-res screen with the rubbery physical buttons next to each choice. Obviously, I didn't want to keep the voters behind me waiting (not to mention losing my vote if I actually broke something!) so I just made my selections and finished, but here's a few tests I would have liked to run.
What happens if I vote straight ticket, then change some of the selections, go back and vote straight ticket again?
Can I change my vote from a selection to no selection? What if it was selected with a straight ticket?
After hitting the big red button to finish voting, can I get back into the system without the poll worker resetting with her card? (I really hope they got this one right! :)
If there are resolution settings on the monitors, making sure the physical buttons on the machine line up correctly with each selection on each page.
I saw an option for writing in a candidate, I wonder how that works?
Will it let me make more than one selection for each race or yes/no choice?
What happens when I press buttons that should be disabled for a particular screen?
If you voted today, what other tests you would have liked to run?
My polling place in Indiana used software by Microvote. Overall, I found it easy to use. It consisted of a low-res screen with the rubbery physical buttons next to each choice. Obviously, I didn't want to keep the voters behind me waiting (not to mention losing my vote if I actually broke something!) so I just made my selections and finished, but here's a few tests I would have liked to run.
What happens if I vote straight ticket, then change some of the selections, go back and vote straight ticket again?
Can I change my vote from a selection to no selection? What if it was selected with a straight ticket?
After hitting the big red button to finish voting, can I get back into the system without the poll worker resetting with her card? (I really hope they got this one right! :)
If there are resolution settings on the monitors, making sure the physical buttons on the machine line up correctly with each selection on each page.
I saw an option for writing in a candidate, I wonder how that works?
Will it let me make more than one selection for each race or yes/no choice?
What happens when I press buttons that should be disabled for a particular screen?
If you voted today, what other tests you would have liked to run?