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this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2026
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I have two questions about this:
Why do Americans use these machines? Just turn up at the polling station, confirm your name and address, get handed your ballot paper, mark it with an X, drop it in the box. Bish bash bosh.
What the fuck is with that weird "news reporter voice" they always do on American news!? Just speak normally.
1 - so someone could make money off selling them
2 - probably thanks to radio news and a stylistic choice that took hold
America, more than ever, varies a lot by state.
I'm from New England. I vote in person because it's fast and easy. In my urban town, everyone lives within a 5-10 minute walk of their polling location. There is never a line and it takes like 2 minutes tops. It's a paper ballot, fill-in-the-bubble style. I had to vote absentee once: I swung through town hall and took care of it in like 15 minutes - same deal except it went in a signed and sealed envelope.
If you've ever had to grade a scantron test, you would know how hard "fill in the little circle completely, and only fill in one circle per question" is for the general population.
Eh. Big difference in motivation between high schoolers taking a test and adults voting. Also, the circles on the ballots are larger and spaced farther apart.
it seems to work just fine here in Canada
In many countries automated counting is not a thing. All interested parties gather in a room and manually count it.
Because that voice and cadence is how you know that I'm telling the truth.............and am REALLY important. BruisedMoose, piefed.social. Back to you la508.
The "News Reporter Voice" is actually an Ohio accent. Or rather, the distinct lack of an accent. Add in proper enunciation while projecting calm authority, and BAM! that Ohio non-accent turns into the News Reporter Voice.
There’s no such thing as a lack of an accent. All that means is “it’s the same accent as me”. To a Brit, someone from Ohio has an extremely thick American accent, what with all the rhotic Rs and such.
well, I mean, it's a lack of any specific American accent. They don't sound like they're from the Appalachia, West/East coast, or Boston, or the south etc. etc. A lot of American television news reporters came from Columbus, Ohio back-in-the-day because we just don't have a regional dialect.
What I said still applies in the context of American accents. There’s nothing that makes Ohio’s accent the base from which others deviate. It’s literally just the one you happen to be the most used to hearing. To someone who grew up in rural West Virginia, your accent is quite noticeable, and their neighbors just talk normally. To them, everyone but them has an accent. Yours isn’t special in any way.
No, they sound like they’re from Ohio.
No, I mean, the "radio announcer" and thus the "news reporter" voice was modeled after the Ohio accent, because it was seen as a non-accent. You're right that we have one, it's just so incredibly bland, that it comes across as not one at all.
Here's an article that goes into further detail
Ah. I’ll grant that because it’s an accent that guy liked, it became a prevalent accent in news and popular media.
I’d still push back on it being bland, since that’s still just familiarity. Someone who grew up in rural Appalachia without electricity hearing it for the first time would find it quite thick and probably make fun of it and find ways to exaggerate it.
RIGHT?! It's quite bizarre. Maybe it's some kind of standard for maximum clarity or something. It annoys me too, just like "commercial voice."
Not all states use voting machines, it's a state by state thing. The news voice I think is something they are trained in. It might be a holdover from the radio days and the "trans-atlantic" accent.
That "news reporter" voice has gotten steadily worse over the years. I stopped watching news of any kind a long time ago partially because of how annoying that voice and cadence was. Every time I see any news reporting now it's all I can do not to take to the TV (or whatever) with a baseball bat. I can't take it seriously at all and it's so SO much worse now.
It's getting right up there with "Hurried excited yet clear but stress-inducing YouTube-bro you've got to see this you won't believe it" voice. ARGHH.
We do it correctly in Washington State. We get our ballot in the mail, mark it at home, and stick it in a mail box or ballot drop box. It's amazing, and I remember being baffled when I learned voting in person wasn't obsolete.
With no ID checks?
You need a valid state ID or SSN to register. Can register online, by mail or in person.
If you get an EDL you are automatically registered.
Easy peasy.
Source
Despite republican claims to the contrary, you do actually need proper ID to vote.