Privacy is a nonissue on undervote law
In Feb 2 Daily Herald is an article about the undervoting law and does it mean your ballot isn't private. Having been an election judge for several years, I wanted to write about the privacy issue on this. For several years, Streamwood has used the touchscreens and also had the paper ballots available.
The touch screen tells the voter - no one else - what was not voted on. He or she then has the option of voting in those categories, or leaving them blank. This happens a lot with judges, lots of people don't vote for judges because they don't know them.
The paper ballots are taken to the machine with a cover sheet on them, and the voter is instructed to insert the ballot into the box. If it comes back, there's a little screen that says either overvoted or undervoted. The overvote voids the vote in that category. Even in the presidential election, I can't say that this caused any undue time. Without seeing the actual ballot you ask the voter if he would like to change the ballot or let it ride as is.
The clerk can't see what was undervoted or overvoted, and frankly I don't care who votes for what. Most people just let you press an override button and their ballot is accepted into the machine. The touch screens require no judge assistance unless the voter asks for help. I couldn't even tell you one instance where I halfway thought where the undervote occurred.
If anyone is so afraid of their privacy being violated, let them go to early voting. you may just be the only one there voting as was the case when we voted this year. But there are only touch screens available for early voting.
Linda Kimsey
Streamwood