Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2021 May 24

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May 24

I'm sorry if my question about a medical website has caused problems.

I didn't mean to be a cause for people to be upset. 2001:569:7D97:D200:602D:A1A5:B83:AE33 (talk) 04:18, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

2001:569:7D97:D200:602D:A1A5:B83:AE33, you have no reason to apologise. Your question – about the existence of a particular sort of website, rather than seeking medical advice directly (which would have breached our rules) – was a perfectly reasonable one. The "problems" concern various respondents here disagreeing about appropriate terminology, completely irrelevantly to your query. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.197.27.217 (talk) 06:57, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

NY voting machine (Lever systems)

And yes, I have always been fascinated by voting machines, those widespread above all in the States. As a last request, I have a new question mark. As for the lever machines (those of New York, to be clear), it is true, yes, that at the closing of the polls the results were transcribed by hand, so I read. But to add up all the totals of each machine, precints, etc, they used what I know, like common calculators? I also read that the machines, the more "advanced" ones, could produce a print with all the results but this in the last times, I think, before these machines went to the attic. Thank you very much. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.41.96.42 (talk) 12:02, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

Not answering your question, but you may be interested in All Your Lever Voting Machine Questions Answered. Alansplodge (talk) 13:07, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

Aha! "New York votes are cast on levers, but are counted on computers" Proving Election Fraud: Phantom Voters, Uncounted Votes, and the National Exit Poll (2010). Alansplodge (talk) 13:11, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

Old fashioned lever machines were mechanical and had odometer-like wheels inside counting the number of times each of the little levers was pulled. After you were done using the little levers to select your ballot choices, you'd pull a big lever that signified you were done. The big lever provided the energy to advance all the counting wheels corresponding to pulled little levers, it reset the little levers, and it opened the voting booth curtain so you could exit and the next person could enter. They mostly worked pretty well, but could be gamed in various ways such as by bending the metal tabs connected to the little levers so that the votes for that lever's candidate wouldn't be counted. The little levers each made a plinking sound when you pulled them. Sometimes the sounds were distinct enough that you could tell how someone voted by listening carefully to the plink. 2601:648:8202:350:0:0:0:BA42 (talk) 19:36, 27 May 2021 (UTC)