More computers not getting along with politicians
Likud primaries extended until 1:00 AM. Delays in the voting stations due to the computerized voting machines. The machines work fine, the voters take longer time and there are just not enough computerized voting stations. Is computerized voting not really ready for prime time? A G A I N ?
Today the Likud party in Israel is having it's primaries. The primaries will determine who will represent the party on the Knesset (house of representatives). Remember the Labor party's two day delay? (just few days ago?) In the Labor's case the computers "crashed" completely. In the Likud primary they simply did not have enough voting "booths". The booths are computer touch screens with pictures of the candidates. They identify a voter with his/her identity number (mispar zehut) which makes voting safer and simpler. For the first time, voters can vote anywhere in Israel. If you are on vacation in Eilat and registered in Haifa, no problem. With all this hi-tech in the political world, the politician's common sense has taken a back seat. Likud got their computers to work, so people did come and wanted to vote in large numbers. But they forgot one thing, when people show up at the voting booth, most times they don't "just vote" (right away). Voters tend to dilly-dally, think again, take their time... so what's the problem? Well, when you have cardboard boxes with a slot, NO PROBLEM. The line gets long, people start making noises of "what's the heck is going on up there..." You can go the corner of the room, get another box, put in another voting station, you are set.
Likud web site with news about the extended hours of the votes
In the case of the computerized system, which actually worked fine, there were just not enough voting station. Apparently the computer designers assumed that each voter will take 3 minutes to complete his/her voting. Maybe because of the new, modern, fancy systems, maybe because of the issues involved, maybe because the turn out was high, maybe, maybe, maybe... people took longer, much MUCH LONGER. In some cases reports of 15 minutes per voter was the modus operendi. That made the lines starting at 5 PM much longer and some people turned around and went home. But the election committee decided to remedy the problem. First they thought of opening the voting stations tomorrow. I think that keeping everything on hold for another day was too complicated. Even with computers the party's voting organization was probably not ready for this unforeseeable disruption.
Sticker calling for unified voice in the city of Jerusalem - did it work for Likid?
In Jerusalem a phone company fiber optic cable was cut due to construction, so voting was shut down for two hours. In addition, voters in Jerusalem came out in high numbers. For the first time in years orthodox lined up along Muslim and secular Jews. Likud used this as a sign of success of their message and maybe the overall push to come back against the other parties.
The moral of the story: You can vote with computers, for real! Computers are here for elections in Israel. They may not be here for "the real thing" (national general elections). The national elections may not be with computers this time but certainly will be here for the next primary elections in the coming term. Maybe Israeli computer companies will be the big computerized election providers to the world ~ or maybe . . .
AmiV from Tel Aviv (@the White City)
Today the Likud party in Israel is having it's primaries. The primaries will determine who will represent the party on the Knesset (house of representatives). Remember the Labor party's two day delay? (just few days ago?) In the Labor's case the computers "crashed" completely. In the Likud primary they simply did not have enough voting "booths". The booths are computer touch screens with pictures of the candidates. They identify a voter with his/her identity number (mispar zehut) which makes voting safer and simpler. For the first time, voters can vote anywhere in Israel. If you are on vacation in Eilat and registered in Haifa, no problem. With all this hi-tech in the political world, the politician's common sense has taken a back seat. Likud got their computers to work, so people did come and wanted to vote in large numbers. But they forgot one thing, when people show up at the voting booth, most times they don't "just vote" (right away). Voters tend to dilly-dally, think again, take their time... so what's the problem? Well, when you have cardboard boxes with a slot, NO PROBLEM. The line gets long, people start making noises of "what's the heck is going on up there..." You can go the corner of the room, get another box, put in another voting station, you are set.
Likud web site with news about the extended hours of the votesIn the case of the computerized system, which actually worked fine, there were just not enough voting station. Apparently the computer designers assumed that each voter will take 3 minutes to complete his/her voting. Maybe because of the new, modern, fancy systems, maybe because of the issues involved, maybe because the turn out was high, maybe, maybe, maybe... people took longer, much MUCH LONGER. In some cases reports of 15 minutes per voter was the modus operendi. That made the lines starting at 5 PM much longer and some people turned around and went home. But the election committee decided to remedy the problem. First they thought of opening the voting stations tomorrow. I think that keeping everything on hold for another day was too complicated. Even with computers the party's voting organization was probably not ready for this unforeseeable disruption.
Sticker calling for unified voice in the city of Jerusalem - did it work for Likid?In Jerusalem a phone company fiber optic cable was cut due to construction, so voting was shut down for two hours. In addition, voters in Jerusalem came out in high numbers. For the first time in years orthodox lined up along Muslim and secular Jews. Likud used this as a sign of success of their message and maybe the overall push to come back against the other parties.
The moral of the story: You can vote with computers, for real! Computers are here for elections in Israel. They may not be here for "the real thing" (national general elections). The national elections may not be with computers this time but certainly will be here for the next primary elections in the coming term. Maybe Israeli computer companies will be the big computerized election providers to the world ~ or maybe . . .
AmiV from Tel Aviv (@the White City)
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