Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Paper ballots

I recently wrote about how difficult it would be to commit in-person voter fraud.  In-person voter fraud is what Trump and the organization “True the Vote” and Republicans in general are always yammering about.  It doesn’t happen, but it does provide an excuse to push for voter ID laws and restrictions that benefit Republicans and suppress Democratic turnout.

However, there is a type of voter fraud that is quite possible and hardly ever mentioned.  When voters cast ballots using computers, programming shenanigans or hacking scenarios are quite possible.  Georgia, for example, relies completely on an electronic system that leaves no paper trail.

I will be contacting our county commissioners about a system that uses paper ballots that are scanned.  While the election outcome is available immediately after the polls close, if there are any questions, the actual paper ballots are available for checking.  


The system is fast, easy, and foolproof.  I have used it in Marin County, California, where I was  a judge of elections.  It works, and it is impossible to hack.  We need it in Pennsylvania

2 comments:

  1. I actually like what they did in Iraq when people started to vote. There finger was dipped in a dye. One could never vote twice. There would be no need to register to vote.

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  2. At a California legislative hearing on voting, I brought that up. The legislators were talking about mainframes and computer technology, and I brought up dipping thumbs in dye. I did not get a good reception, but sometimes a low tech solution is the easiest and the best. I still like that idea, but it won't fly here. Way too Third World.

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