Cherokeean Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 159, No. 3, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Page: 2 of 16
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2A
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Cherokeean Herald ■ thecherokeean.com
LETTERS
POLICY
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mail to P.O. Box 475, Rusk, Texas, 75785.
opinion
COMMENTARY
To Protect Privacy of Voters, Furniture Needs to Be Re-Arranged at Some S tes
Democrats and Republicans can most likely agree on this
cornerstone of our democracy: The secret ballot should allow
voters to cast ballots with confidence that their choices, will
remain confidential.
The concept of keeping voters' choices anonymous dates to
139 BC in ancient Borne with election laws known as Tabel-
lariae Leges. The concept was tweaked by the Australians in
1850, expanded in the United States and it has morphed into
a our curren t system of counting ballots via electronic voting
and scan n ing mach ines.
Terrie Gonzalez
I enjoy voting on election clay
as opposed to early voting.
There's something about
catching the whiff of the
political soup boiling. Visiting
with election j uclges , counting
the number of ballots cast on
the front door and admiring
the spirit of those running
for office are
all part of the
"big day" for a
politico - j unkie
like me.
When I went
tothepollslast
week at the
second largest
box in Chero-
kee County, X waited behind
just one person before being
processed at the table of my
party of choice. After mark-
ing my ballot, I went to the
entrance where the scanning
box was located — and there
was a problem. The Scan-
ning box was immediately
next to the door, which was
sandwiched next to one of the
registration tables. A short
line of six people waiting to
vote completely blocked ac-
cess to the ballot box/scanning
machine.
A woman in front of me
asked the crowd to part and
allow her to insert her ballot,
face up, into the scanning
machine, X couldn't help but
notice a man standing in line
waiting to register. lie inched
a littXe: to his left to allow
the woman to step up to the
scanning machino. But as she
inserted her ballot, face up,
into the machine, this man
careenedhisneckin an oh-so-
obvious attempt to read her
ballot. Like a curious rubber-
necker at a car accident, he
violated this woman's rights
and deprived her of casting a
ballot in secrecy.
Seconds later when it was
my turn, I positioned my body
to block his line of sight, but
the woman in line behind him
had a quick glimpse of my
ballot before it disappeared
into the box.
This is so wrong. And yet
it is so easily fixed.
When the furniture is ar-
ranged at polling sites, elec-
tion officials from both the
Democratic and Republican
parties should consider foot
traffic patterns and imagine
where people will stand when
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u.LLijj^Mjja
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Presents
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33
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6:30 PM, Saturday, April 5
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BRANDED by CHRIST
COWBOY CHURCH
Branded by Christ
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Sunday • 10 a.m. Worship Service
Thursday • 6:30 p.m. Bible Study
Curtis Oliver - Pastor
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(936) 675-3205, cell
We have moved
to our new building
on 18 beautiful acres at
5592 Hwy 110 N
(5 miles from 84 & 110)
15 or more people arrive al
the same time. Scanning
boxes should be placed away
from the front door and away
from the registration desk so
that a secret ballot is exactly
that — secret. No one should
be able to steal a glimpse of a
ballot inserted face up.
To the man who tried to
sneak a peek at the balXots,
shame on you.
The election last week went
very smoothly at the Chero -
kee County Clerk's office, and
our hats are off to Laverne
Lusk and her staff.
Ballots were counted and
announced promptly, with
the final ballot tabulated at
exactly 9:51 p.m.
Cherokee County's success
contrasts sharply with a ghtch
in neighboring Angelina
County Voting machines
were unable to process the
early voting ballots, and they
were ultimately counted by
hand. Final tabulations
weren't available until 4:30
a.m.
Angelina County sproblems
underscore how complicated
*< At one of the polling
locations in Cherokee
County last week, the
scanning machine was
sandwiched between the
door and the registra-
tion table. When several
people waited in line to
register, they blocked
access to the scanning
machine. Because bal-
lots were inserted "face
up," curious eyes could
steal a glance at the ballot
before it was fed into the
machine.
the process has become with
the HAVA Voting Act, It'shard
to anticipate all the Murphy's
Law problems that can crop
up on election day with voting
machines.
Great job. Laverne and
crew.
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Whitehead, Marie. Cherokeean Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 159, No. 3, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 12, 2008, newspaper, March 12, 2008; Rusk, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152825/m1/2/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Singletary Memorial Library.