Today's Voting Systems Are Becoming Increasingly More Reliable

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We all know the importance of voting. If we want to live in true democracies then we must do our share to make sure everyone's voice is heard. That is done by marking an x on the candidate of your choice.

Voting goes all the way back to ancient Greece when people used to place a name or a mark on a shard of pottery. However, it has become increasingly more sophisticated since then.

Voting went from hand-counted ballots to the punch-card voting machines that led to issues with the results for the 2000 presidential election in the United States. We then saw the introduction of mechanical lever machines, first developed in the 1890s.

It should be noted that today both lever machines and punch-card machines are banned in federal elections in the U.S. due to concerns over voter fraud. Finally, we have the two most high-tech voting systems that came about in the late 20th century.

These are scanned paper ballots and Direct-Recording Electronic machines. The first are very similar to the machines that score multiple-choice tests where you darken circles and the latter operate like lever machines, except they are electronic, rather than mechanical. These new voting methods are not just easier to use, they are also much more reliable. 

Want to learn more about our many voting systems from the past and present? Then watch this video.