Voting in pencil not pen!

shortarse89xxx

just a thought we have been all along voting in pencil not pen... Sit bk and think about it when your filling out a goverment document eg medical card form, tax form etc. It states either at top of the page or bottom of the page you must fill this document in using black pen only fair enough. But while voting they only supply u with a 2b pencil! anyone that does art or anything knows that a 2b pencil is a very light pencil.(and easy to rub out)
yesterday we had to vote yes or no and a friend of mine didnt want to use pencil so they brought there own pen and wre arrested! why? just sounds a bit strange to me that u cant vote using pen does anyone agree.?

superluck

More economical to use pencils, even argos do it.

number10a

shortarse89xxx wrote: »

just a thought we have been all along voting in pencil not pen... Sit bk and think about it when your filling out a goverment document eg medical card form, tax form etc. It states either at top of the page or bottom of the page you must fill this document in using black pen only fair enough. But while voting they only supply u with a 2b pencil! anyone that does art or anything knows that a 2b pencil is a very light pencil.(and easy to rub out)
yesterday we had to vote yes or no and a friend of mine didnt want to use pencil so they brought there own pen and wre arrested! why? just sounds a bit strange to me that u cant vote using pen does anyone agree.?

You cannot be arrested for using your own pen. For one, it's secret ballot in a fairly discrete polling booth so no one should be able to see your pen. And secondly, the ballot paper is yours to do whatever you want with it. You're entitled to spoil it and draw a big dick or a pair of tits if you want.

Thirdly, my mam is a presiding officer. Just asked her. Pencils are there for the voters' convenience. Anyone can bring their own pen if they wish.

Methinks you're spouting shìte.

johndoe99

shortarse89xxx wrote: »

just a thought we have been all along voting in pencil not pen... Sit bk and think about it when your filling out a goverment document eg medical card form, tax form etc. It states either at top of the page or bottom of the page you must fill this document in using black pen only fair enough. But while voting they only supply u with a 2b pencil! anyone that does art or anything knows that a 2b pencil is a very light pencil.(and easy to rub out)
yesterday we had to vote yes or no and a friend of mine didnt want to use pencil so they brought there own pen and wre arrested! why? just sounds a bit strange to me that u cant vote using pen does anyone agree.?

i've always wondered about that too, often joked about it. But your right they could easily be altered, not saying they do, but it makes you think.

And the fact that others are saying that pencils are convenient, i could say the same about pens.

Corkfeen

shortarse89xxx wrote: »

just a thought we have been all along voting in pencil not pen... Sit bk and think about it when your filling out a goverment document eg medical card form, tax form etc. It states either at top of the page or bottom of the page you must fill this document in using black pen only fair enough. But while voting they only supply u with a 2b pencil! anyone that does art or anything knows that a 2b pencil is a very light pencil.(and easy to rub out)
yesterday we had to vote yes or no and a friend of mine didnt want to use pencil so they brought there own pen and wre arrested! why? just sounds a bit strange to me that u cant vote using pen does anyone agree.?

And all votes are counted in public space so it would be rather noticeable if people started rubbing out votes....

shortarse89xxx

number10a i not taking ****e! i was there! they called the garda!

shortarse89xxx

i not saying its a fix it just makes u think though!

kippy

Pens fail, and you end up sometimes not being able to write with them without having to do a "scribble" first.
(this really is a crazy CT though) You really think there are a few hundred people with rubbers rubbing out votes?
All one would have to do is request a sample of ballot papers (perhaps a few random samples) and see where there any rubber marks on the Ballot paper.

ucd.1985

shortarse89xxx wrote: »

number10a i not taking ****e! i was there! they called the garda!

:rolleyes:

al28283

shortarse89xxx wrote: »

j
yesterday we had to vote yes or no and a friend of mine didnt want to use pencil so they brought there own pen and wre arrested! why?

You or your friend are lying

number10a

shortarse89xxx wrote: »

number10a i not taking ****e! i was there! they called the garda!

Oh, you were there. Sorry. Must be true so.


Tell me, how did the staff in the voting centre see your friend's biro??

shortarse89xxx

im not lying honesty.... just makes ya think

shortarse89xxx

cause she had it in her hand????

number10a

shortarse89xxx wrote: »

cause she had it in her hand????

Right, so the voting centre staff were looking over her shoulder while she was voting, yeah??

al28283

What was the charge?

Triangla

shortarse89xxx wrote: »

im not lying honesty.... just makes ya think

Think what, that the government is erasing the no votes and writing down yes instead?

That makes NO sense at all.

shortarse89xxx

number10a wrote: »

Right, so the voting centre staff were looking over her shoulder while she was voting, yeah??

no when she was givin her name at the table u have to go to..... and she was been handed her card and they asked her not to use the biro! i not lying like... why would i come on tis and lie like!

number10a

shortarse89xxx wrote: »

no when she was givin her name at the table u have to go to..... and she was been handed her card and they asked her not to use the biro! i not lying like... why would i come on tis and lie like!

Go on, what charge was she arrested with? Why don't ye go to the press? This would make the front page. Ah crap, forgot, it's bull.

al28283

What polling station was it? You are some idiot if you thought anyone would believe someone was arrested for having a biro in a polling station

al28283

Closed his account. What a failure

number10a

And shortarse89xxx has closed his/her account. Silence. Internet language for "I was making up shìte, and I've been caught out."

norrie rugger

johndoe99 wrote: »

i've always wondered about that too, often joked about it. But your right they could easily be altered, not saying they do, but it makes you think.

Except that the count is done in a visible manner, that is open to members of the public

ghogie91

number10a wrote: »

You cannot be arrested for using your own pen. For one, it's secret ballot in a fairly discrete polling booth so no one should be able to see your pen. And secondly, the ballot paper is yours to do whatever you want with it. You're entitled to spoil it and draw a big dick or a pair of tits if you want.

Thirdly, my mam is a presiding officer. Just asked her. Pencils are there for the voters' convenience. Anyone can bring their own pen if they wish.

Methinks you're spouting shìte.

PUMP PUMP KILL

RoboClam

Looks like the CT forum claimed another victim

kippy

RoboClam wrote: »

Looks like the CT forum claimed another victim

The "dark forces" of FG and Labour obviously got to him before he could spread the "truth".

donegal_man

Point gets broken on a pencil you stick in a parer, point gets broken on a pen you need a new pen.

johndoe99

donegal_man wrote: »

Point gets broken on a pencil you stick in a parer, point gets broken on a pen you need a new pen.

in 30 years of using pens i've never seen a point get broken.

kippy

johndoe99 wrote: »

in 30 years of using pens i've never seen a point get broken.

Neither have I, but I have seen plenty of points fail.

Yzf R6

Correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I know you can't use a pencil or red pen on a legal document,it's not valid,blue/black pen only afaik.Looks to me that the government are breaking their own rules to suit their own agenda.

kippy

Yzf R6 wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I know you can't use a pencil or red pen on a legal document,it's not valid,blue/black pen only afaik.Looks to me that the government are breaking their own rules to suit their own agenda.

And what is their agenda?

Yzf R6

To make sure there is a yes vote maybe...can you answer me in regards to the validity of a pencil on a legal document.

ScumLord

superluck wrote: »

More economical to use pencils, even argos do it.

Point of order. My argos uses a pen.

kippy

Yzf R6 wrote: »

To make sure there is a yes vote maybe...can you answer me in regards to the validity of a pencil on a legal document.

Nope, I am not a solicitor or familiar with any laws in that area. Is a ballot paper a legal document even?


So they decide to use pencils in this (and almost every other election I can remember for the past 12 years) so that they can guarentee a yes vote.
Ah - so that's the point of this thread.

28064212

Yzf R6 wrote: »

To make sure there is a yes vote maybe...can you answer me in regards to the validity of a pencil on a legal document.

Define "legal document".

Here's the Referendum Act of 1994: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1994/en/act/pub/0012/print.html. No mention of the colour or type of mark. The only requirement is that the mark "in the opinion of the local returning officer, clearly indicates a vote in favour of or against the proposal."

Yzf R6

I'm not saying its a CT,I'm just questioning the validity of a pencil on a legal document,that's all.Btw it is a legal document.

28064212

Yzf R6 wrote: »

I'm not saying its a CT,I'm just questioning the validity of a pencil on a legal document,that's all.Btw it is a legal document.

What are you defining as a legal document?

al28283

ScumLord wrote: »

Point of order. My argos uses a pen.

Point of odour. Scumlord smells

Yzf R6

I would have thought you're ballot paper,open to correction on this.

davetherave

Could be that if you make a mistake or change your mind you can erase it and start again. Whereas you wouldn't be able to do so with pen or marker.


You mark your paper in private. Put it in a sealed box. Box gets escorted to counting centre. Box gets opened in front of politicians, public and media. I'm fairly sure that if a counter is hunched over a stack of papers with an eraser and a pencil somebody would say something.

RoboClam

Sure I assume pencils were used for the original Lisbon treaty and we all know what happened there.

MrPudding

Why would they go to the hassle and trouble of changing votes? Would it not be easier to simply swap ballot boxes or replace ballots with new ones which had the "correct" choice?

MrP

muincav

al28283 wrote: »

What was the charge?

The pen was mightier (deadlier) than a sword???:D

al28283

muincav wrote: »

The pen was mightier (deadlier) than a sword???:D

The Pen is a lie

face1990

I'd imagine the choice to use pencils down to cost issues. I may be wrong, but I wouldve thought pencils are cheaper/last longer than pens.

It doesn't make sense that this would be used to change people's votes for three main reasons:

2B pencils leave a fairly heavy mark (heavier than standard HB pencils), which would take a bit of rubbing to erase fully.

Changing votes that way would be time consuming and difficult to keep secret.

Every vote and referendum is done using pencil, and yet we see things like the party in power at the time of the election being decimated. It doesn't always go the way the government wants it to.

Torakx

MrPudding wrote: »

Why would they go to the hassle and trouble of changing votes? Would it not be easier to simply swap ballot boxes or replace ballots with new ones which had the "correct" choice?

MrP

Bingo!
The pencil was a gambit to the ct world, so they could swap the ballot box and everyone would be arguing about pencils!
Mwuaahahahaha!

poolboy

If only we had some type of machine/ computer device we could vote on. Ballots could be counted in seconds and that poor lady could have avoided being arrested for posession of a pen.

DB21

poolboy wrote: »

If only we had some type of machine/ computer device we could vote on. Ballots could be counted in seconds and that poor lady could have avoided being arrested for posession of a pen.

Indeed. I hear e-voting machines are great

donegal_man

muincav wrote: »

The pen was mightier (deadlier) than a sword???:D

Only if it's a really big pen or a really REALLY small sword

CiaranMT

shortarse89xxx wrote: »

But while voting they only supply u with a 2b pencil! anyone that does art or anything knows that a 2b pencil is a very light pencil.(and easy to rub out)

face1990 wrote: »

2B pencils leave a fairly heavy mark (heavier than standard HB pencils), which would take a bit of rubbing to erase fully.

3 pages before somebody pointed this out.

Agent Smith

davetherave wrote: »

Could be that if you make a mistake or change your mind you can erase it and start again. Whereas you wouldn't be able to do so with pen or marker.


You mark your paper in private. Put it in a sealed box. Box gets escorted to counting centre. Box gets opened in front of politicians, public and media. I'm fairly sure that if a counter is hunched over a stack of papers with an eraser and a pencil somebody would say something.

I was at a count in 2009 and was tallying votes


As Long as you make a clear indication of your preferance. it doesnt matter what you use.

In PR-STV, i've seen people use ;

1
2
3
4
5

another ballot had this ;
A
B
C
D
E

And another had
.
..
...
....
.....

All were Accepted by the presiding officer, as they clearly indecated a clear order and preferance.

In the referendum, people have put 1 and 2 in the Ta - Níl boxes. the 1 counts as there first preferance.

i've seen voted done in red, blue,green, back and silver pen before. once its clear what the persons preferance is, then its fine