I voted on paper! (in CollinCo TX)

Last week I received the newsletter from the county Democrats about how all polling stations would have a supply of paper ballots. This is in Collin County, TX.

Here's my recap.

I went to my early polling location on Saturday around 1:00pm. There was nobody inside voting, although two people were leaving as I arrived.

I gave the woman at the desk my voter registration card, and said "I understand you guys have paper ballots, right?". She looks at me with an indescribable look. Sort of like how you mom might look at you when you've done something wrong.

She said something to the effect of, "are you sure you want to use a paper ballot?" And I confirmed.

Past that, it was apparent it was an ordeal to vote on a paper ballot. The presiding official had to go to a stack of large brown envelopes, find the one for my precinct. She took out a large scantron from the envelope, and marked though the "9" written on the exterior, and wrote an "8". (I believe there are probably 10 per envelope, as my partner had voted a few days earlier, and my guess is he was the only other person from our precinct to vote on paper.)

It then became apparent they had no where to let people like me vote. I was shown to an area that had sofas and a coffee table, where I proceeded to kneel and use the coffee table as my surface.

When finished, I returned the paper to the same person who gave it to me. She asked me to fold it in half. Then to fold it in thirds. Then to stick it in a letter-sized envelope which I sealed and we placed into a bank-deposit type bag.

I then asked her when it became such an ordeal to vote on paper. She muttered something about electronic being the preferred method here, and I mentioned I would be fine with that if there was a voter-verified paper trail. I didn't want to get into an argument with this woman, as it was obviously not going to do any good.

So spread the word. If you live in Collin County, you can vote on paper ballots!