A spirited election season such as this one called for a spirited party. And what better to build for
a post-election party than a full-scale voting booth that takes your picture when you vote?
I built this voting booth entirely out of scrap wood. The side pieces of masonite are reinforced with Dexion at the
top to withstand emphatic pulling of the curtains. A fluorescent light illuminates the “voting” area (Sharpie markers provided). The voting handle,
which looks suspiciously like an old hockey stick, moves smoothly in a machined plastic block.
Elastic bands in the
back (see picture to the right) give the handle a bistable spring action. A microswitch detects when the voting
handle is thrown to the right. The switch input connects to a serial port on a FreeBSD machine, where a custom C
program detects the “vote.” Using libgphoto2, the program
remotely controls a USB-tethered digital SLR mounted overhead. The picture is taken, immediately transferred
back to the computer, and deleted from the memory card. The program drops the image onto a Web site, updating
a link so that within seconds, an auto-refreshing Web page displays the latest picture full-screen on a nearby monitor.
After the early demise of 2006’s earthquake dance floor, I wanted to make this one completely indestructable, so I used the most badass limit switch in my parts bin. Unfortunately there is only so much you can do to withstand the gentle touch of dozens of drunk people confronted with a 12 inch lever. The switch fell apart later in the evening, but amazingly I was able to get it going again with just a couple of bolts and some electrical tape.
But enough with the technical details—on to the evening’s pictures!
Fantastic pics! The voting booth worked like a charm. Nice work, Scojo!
Well done Scottoway! I wish I could have been there. Unfortunately I no longer have any money for jetsetting :-(
It appears that some people voted more than once. Perhaps you should contact the FEC!
Hey thanks! I was relieved that it all worked in the end. (I was still writing code when guests were arriving.) Wish you could have been there, Dale. Didn’t you get that memo about voting often?
very fun, very cool. i can’t believe you didn’t even mention sarah in this post, though. she was the life of the party!
Nicely done. The Sarah Palin cardboard standup was also a nice touch.
The graffiti looks fantastic on there. Any close up shots?