Didnt know if this should go in the lounge or here, so feel free to move it if necessary.

Ive been looking on google and can't really find an answer (maybe not searching with the right words).

How do voting precincts report thier information so fast? I assume they are counting the votes throughout the day as the votes are placed, and I also assume there is some central reporting system that all of the states/precincts use, correct?

Was just interested in learning how it works after watching the different news shows and they would say 18% of precincts reporting X votes, and it was only like 2 minutes after the polls closed in that area.

Anyone know how that works or can point me to some information on it? Thanks!

11/5/2008 10:32:32 AM

well electronic votes are counted immediately, as well as scantron/bubble sheet votes.

11/5/2008 10:35:46 AM

Yeah, i got that much, but what Im really curious about is the infrastructure for it.

Is there a central database that it all gets fed to? Is there some guy that makes a phone call to some office in DC and goes "We have 10,114,213 votes for X" etc....?

Im fascinated that you can have millions upon millions of people vote, and know the results the same day.

11/5/2008 10:33:57 PM

yeah i have been wondering this myself

i was a poll worker in 2002 and our optical scanner basically worked like a modem, calling some central server

but they never really told us about the infrastructure

11/5/2008 11:01:37 PM

I know I worked for the Associated Press during a recent election ('06 maybe?). My job was to sit at the Johnston County Board of Elections and call an office in some central location every 15-20 minutes to give them the latest numbers. Every time a precinct reported to the county, I knew about it and placed a call.

It's been a while, but as best I can remember, my calls went something like this: "North Carolina. Johnston County. X of X precincts reporting. Race 1: X votes for Candidate A. Y votes for Candidate B. Etc..."

11/5/2008 11:57:58 PM

other than faggoty ass hackers

why isn't voting done online?

11/5/2008 11:59:18 PM

because the old people and stupid people in florida would fuck it up.

11/6/2008 3:49:45 AM

Quote :

"other than faggoty ass hackers why isn't voting done online?"

Not everyone has a computer and access to the interwebs

11/6/2008 4:29:29 AM