Will you use your smartphone in the voting booth?
I use my smartphone to look up prices in the grocery store, nutrition information in line at fast food places, and mattress prices at Sears when I’m in Macy’s.
With 46 percent of American adults owning smartphones, I am wondering how many will use them to look up information on candidates or issues in the voting booth?
In the past I have taken in notes or pages from the newspaper with information about who or what I want to vote for. (Sometimes they use double negatives in the phrasing or the numbers on the item are confusing, and I need reference material.)
But I think this year, if I were voting in the booth, I would look up stuff in my phone. (I have my ballot at home and am voting early this year.)
I believe both parties put out voter guides so I can see people referencing those on their phones or even making notes to themselves beforehand in their phones.
Will you use your smartphone in the voting booth this year? How will you use it?
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74 comments Add your comment
I hope not
October 24th, 2012
8:24 am
Cell phone fumbling in the voting booth? I hope not! Do your research BEFORE you show up–it will be crowded and nobody wants to watch you fumble around with your smartphone while you tie up a voting machine. That’s like the people who start looking for quarters after they stop at the 400 toll gate, or fish around for their checkbook and coupons after the Publix cashier has totaled the amount. Seriously, don’t be That Person.
FCM
October 24th, 2012
8:31 am
But Catlady, I want school choices like charter schools and I would like to see a complete overhaul on the public schools
jarvis
October 24th, 2012
8:36 am
@Mayhem, I took my son for the Primary (let’s be serious Sunday sales in Cobb). I forgot to get an absentee for that one, and I thought he might like to see the process.
I’d have taken my daughter too, but she wasn not home.
b
October 24th, 2012
9:03 am
What Gail and A Reader stated. It’s shocking how inconsiderate most Americans have become!
Logic please...
October 24th, 2012
9:05 am
If you are so lazy that you don’t do your research before entering the polling place…you should not be allowed to vote!
FCM
October 24th, 2012
9:10 am
GA CODE: Officials may begin tabulating absentee ballots beginning at 7:00am on Election Day. O.C.G.A. § 21-2-386
AZ Law :Tallying of absentee ballots may begin 7 days before Election Day. No results may be released until Election Day. (A.R.S. § 16-550; 16-551; 16-552)
FCM
October 24th, 2012
9:14 am
FL counts absentee 15 days before the election…..no wonder they are at risk for voter fraud…AZ too see earlier post.
Techmom
October 24th, 2012
9:32 am
Taken my son to vote plenty of times when he was younger- he was always proud to wear his “peach” sticker the rest of the day. I think it’s good for kids to understand what the election process is and that it’s not difficult to do even for working parents.
@TWG – did you forget to post a new topic for today?
motherjanegoose
October 24th, 2012
9:39 am
@ Techmom…mine wore the stickers too, when they were small. Good role modeling, for your children to SEE you do something you feel is important!
Robert
October 24th, 2012
9:39 am
I think we should be concerned about bringing cell phones and other electronic gadgets (phones, pads, tablets, PC, etc.) into public places. The availability of cheap, easy to use “apps” has made it easy for anyone to capture and store data stolen from scanning the credit/debit cards in your pockets, ATM’s, Google and Facebook. The current voting machines are obsolete 1990’s software technology.
We all should be concerned and ban all electronic gadgets from public places. You have no right to use your phone and violate my right to protect my property. If you must use your phone in public places try to be aware of other people and respect their rights to privacy.
Techmom
October 24th, 2012
10:06 am
Robert – I think you’ve watch too many shows on conspiracy theories
Robert
October 24th, 2012
10:45 am
@Techmom – Did you hear what happened at Barnes & Noble. Please read the link below for details. Thieves are very sosphisticated and will access your personal data anywhere.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/barnes-and-noble-calls-pin-pad-tampering-sophisticated-criminal-effort-to-steal-personal-data/2012/10/24/bdbc8872-1dd4-11e2-8817-41b9a7aaabc7_story.htmlEnter your comments here@Techmon
Wayne
October 24th, 2012
11:05 am
I have no expectation of right to privacy in a public area. Sure, there is etiquette, and common decency toward other people but no right to privacy. Do I agree that people using their cell phone should move somewhere else instead of shouting at the table next to mine? Yup. But I’ve had conversations on my cell phone at a dinner table where folks I was sitting with didn’t even know that I was on the phone! It can be done.
For data gathering, such as the Barnes and Noble data breach/collection? Use cash, don’t carry bank cards with RFID, leave your cell phone home, and quite possibly your drivers license as I hear some states are starting to talk about RFID in your license. Oh, and don’t forget about your passport as we all know that’s really secure. And lest we forget, don’t connect your computer to the internet because, well, that’s already compromised.
Or, you can just suck it up and realize that the bad guys are everywhere and they are very creative and motivated.
Techmom
October 24th, 2012
11:07 am
It’s quite a leap to say that all electronic gadgets should be outlawed b/c some criminals are stealing debit card info off of card readers. There will always be criminals and there will always be security companies fighting them with new technology.
I hope you have never used an ATM before b/c you know, criminals have swiped data from there as well. And you better not every pay a bill online, check your accounts online, or buy anything online, but wait, you shouldn’t use checks either because someone could steal them out of your mailbox and get your account number and print checks with your account number. You should always use cash. Except wait, your company requires your check to be automatic deposit and you can’t use your debit card to get cash. Aggghhhh! Whatever shall you do Robert?
Kat
October 24th, 2012
11:08 am
@motherjanegoose: I’m with you! It amazes me what people will go through to vote in some other countries – the distance to travel, lack of transportation, etc. We are spoiled here for certain.
Kat
October 24th, 2012
11:11 am
We take our kids to vote when we go. They see the process and then we talk about why it is important. Good information for them to have.
irisheyes
October 24th, 2012
11:16 am
I have taken my kids sometimes, especially if there’s not a long line. When they were really little, no, I didn’t take them. My husband and I would tag team to vote. He’d go early in the day, and I’d go later, so our kids could stay home. It’s not fair to the other voters to listen to a whining 1 & 2 year old (which is how old they were in 2004). For the 2008 election, they did go with me. This year, I’m going to try and vote early, so they’ll probably still be at school.
Shark Punch!
October 24th, 2012
11:26 am
The Laws against recording devices in the voting booth have nothing to do with common courtesy. The idea is that if you could photograph your ballot, then you could provide proof of your vote to a third party, and this would make it more tempting for said third party to pay you to vote in a certain way.
CC
October 24th, 2012
11:51 am
Hopefully you are an informed voter before you get to the poll. Why would you ever need your cell phone there? I don’t get a booth I get a stand with hardly any privacy anyway.
JOD
October 24th, 2012
12:47 pm
I guess have the opposite goal of TWG – to get in and cast my ballot as quickly as possible. The thought of researching unfamiliar names online while trying to vote is really not attractive to me at all. The AJC has the ballots online for review pretty well in advance, so it’s not much work to be informed before you head to the polling precinct. I can’t stand people who are glued to their phones all the time; voting is actually pleasantly free of cell phones, thanks to that pesky GA law.
I have taken DD before, but now that she is in school, I would rather go between meetings during off-peak hours. A hungry 4 year old in line to vote after 5 pm? No thanks!
catlady
October 24th, 2012
1:01 pm
I took my kids when they were young. My mother and father took me. I remember standing for hours with my mother to vote against George Wallace. I even remember the poll tax that had to be paid!
I voted Monday, and was in the “booth” for about a minute and a half. Quite a few races in my area were unopposed by Democrats, so that took time off. My main focuses were the Presidential race and to vote NO on the two new amendments/efforts to expand the graft that has overtaken Geogia so badly for the last 10ish years!
DB
October 24th, 2012
2:06 pm
I remember going with my mom and dad to vote in 1959 for the Kennedy/Nixon election. The voting booth was one of those big old-fashioned ones with the curtain that closed behind you and opened when you pushed the “one armed bandit” to register your vate after you had flipped the little levers by each name. I was particulary fascinated by those levers . . . much to my mother’s dismay — I had just turned 4. :-) The curtain was aboslutely fascinating . . . !
DB
October 24th, 2012
2:07 pm
1960, not ‘59!
Rod
October 24th, 2012
2:22 pm
Smartphones should be outlawed in the voting booth. They can and will create unfair voting.
We go into a voting booth alone – why? So we can vote for who we want without any undue pressure from others. Where gangs are rampant (especially), they can force you to hold the phone (with video camera) so they can watch your votes and make sure you’re voting on who they’re making you vote for.
Voting should always be private – for safety and to ensure you vote on who YOU want.