I would the like for Montgomery County to consider returning to paper ballots.
Sounds silly and going back in time, yet, I have been told by the Secretary of State, Voter Division, that there is a move back to paper ballots. Why? Because it is reliable and original ballots cannot be tampered with presumably.
Let us consider what has been in the news for over two decades. Dan Rather reported back as far as August of 2007, issues with voting touch screen machines. There are often “calibration issues” including wrong candidates being selected, warnings failed to be posted about having to touch the candidate’s name for several seconds to register selection, etc. This article suggests issues going back to 2003. The machines have history of errors, if you are uncertain about the validity of that, just look online and you will see not only a few places that delayed opening polls because of issues, but over a decade of issues.
The New Yorker, How Voting-Machine Errors Reflect a Wider Crisis for American Democracy, Oct. 31, 2018, were “flipping” ballots cast for Beto O’Rourke over to Ted Cruz in Texas, Stacy Abrams to Brian Kemp. Stated here, “it is impossible to verify that the votes cast were not the votes intended,” thus a recount would be pointless. These issues result from calibration issues of electronic voting machines. And as this article states, the election officials claim, “The machines do not have glitches” and as in this story, the Texas county clerk blamed any mistakes on the voters themselves.
Let us not be naïve to think this cannot happen in Montgomery County. There were voters here during the prior election cycle who were told there would have to be a few things “checked out” or corrected before the next election, but it seems the problem became larger in the recent primary (June 2). This most recent primary election, there were many who were frustrated with voting. Not uncommonly, voting machines were defaulting to unselected candidates. When selecting delegates, some were limited as to how many they could select, others couldn’t select any delegates at all. Particularly problematic, many voters had a specific issue with the “check box” in the bar with the desired candidate’s name. Voters who asked for help after repeatedly getting the wrong selection, were told emphatically to “just touch the name,” presumably as directed by the clerk. These voters were finally able to make the desired selection. How many, however, went undetected. The assumption was made that the check boxes were too small for “fat fingers” to precisely touch the check box, but are the Q-tips used too fat, too? There were expressed concerns about calibration or issues with results when poll workers or the clerk were asked about voting machine issues. Some folks play close attention to details, others do not. So, how many voters trusted the technology to be “trust-worthy” and fairly quickly touched candidate of choice’s name and moved on with confidence, not confirming that their selection remained on the candidate intended. Should a voter have enough confidence in a voting system to do that- make selections and move on, trusting that their vote was cast as selected?
The burden of proof seems to lie at the feet of a candidate who questions the results. I know I would have believed that the county or state would be investigating any issues. Unfortunately, any questions or challenges lie solely and financially at the feet of a candidate to the tune of about $25,000. Recounts are pointless if the ballot machines aren’t working properly, so a special election would be required to rectify issues for elections that have happened already. According to an election law attorney, if the party chairs and local officials aren’t in-your-camp, it is a fairly pointless process. If there are problems, who offers the motivation to correct them?
Adding to the validity and timing of a request to return to paper ballots with the “connect the arrow” (no hanging chads here!), electronic voting machines were not intended to last 10+ years. I doubt most readers here would consider any technology that is even much older that 5-7 years highly reliable, and if they do, they know they are lucky or realize their technology is dated. This is the time to seriously be considering the next step, move to the reliable and archivable paper. (Also, keep in mind the county is required by the state to have paper documents going back almost to the formation of our county in an archival safe storage area, suggesting that paper format is most reliable and secure.)
2020 General Election will bring people who are very passionate about the candidates of choice! Let us also remember that every Presidential race is voted for at the local level. Having a vote that accurately records votes during a hotly contested race is essential, for that matter, all races must be accurately recorded. If voters and candidates cannot trust that votes are being recorded accurately, can we trust the integrity of our constitutional republic? Do citizens care? Does our government at state level or federal level care enough to make changes? Ultimately, does our local government care enough to make changes to ensure voter integrity? Does our citizenry care enough to hold those in charge accountable for making sure for future elections that ballot machines are accurately recording votes? Clerk Karyn Douglas has asked voters to contact her regarding any voting issues or concerns at 765-364-6430, or email at karyn.douglas@montgomerycounty.in.gov
Let us be sure we preserve our representative form of government by ensuring the voters votes are accurately counted.
April Johnson was a candidate for Montgomery County Commissioner, District 1, in the 2020 Primary Election. The Republican candidate lost to incumbent John Frey in a three-way GOP race.
