When I hand counted ballots in Halifax in 2001, there

[applegrove]

Last edited Sun Sep 22, 2024, 07:10 AM - Edit history (1)

were 3 of us from different parties counting - at each poll. So there would be two dozen people counting in one gym if there were 8 or so polls in each polling place. Took us 45 minutes to an hour. Then each poll would call in the results to the election headquarters by the election official. This was a Canadian election with only one local politician from each party on the ballot. Nothing else on the ballot. That is how a parliamentary system works. I can't believe the Georgia 3 are only going to allow 3 counters per precinct. They will get tired. They will make mistakes. That is criminal.

Georgia is allowing 3 per precinct:


https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/20/georgia-state-election-board-meeting

"SNIP..........

Forty-six days before the election, Georgia’s state election board has approved a new rule requiring a hand-count of paper ballots cast on election day before tabulating votes.

The three Trump-aligned members that make up the majority on the board approved the rule that would require three people in every precinct to check machine-vote tallies by hand-counting the election results, despite a warning from the state attorney general that this rule and others in consideration “very likely exceed the board’s statutory authority”.

..............

Voting experts have long warned that hand-counts are time-consuming, costly and less reliable than machines, but they have been favored nonetheless by conservative activists who doubt the results of the 2020 election. Advocates have warned that Georgia’s proposed rule is contrary to state law and an avenue for error.

“What we are talking about in plain terms is asking for thousands of people to handle ballots before their totals are known and were formally reported without virtually a single safeguard in place, even without considering the risk of any bad actors,” Marisa Pyle, senior democracy defense manager for All Voting Is Local, said during the public comment portion of Friday’s meeting. “Elections staff are begging you stop.”

............SNIP"

[Walleye]

1. Conservatives are still bitching about Pennsylvania, changing their mail in ballot rules before last election because of

The pandemic. They base their claims of illegitimate election on it. They never see the hypocrisy when they do the same thing.

[jaxexpat]

2. Partisan Republican justices at the USSC ordered a halt to the Florida hand count in 2000.

What's changed since then? Why is "hand counting" now a more accurate and fairer method than 24 years ago?

Look, for every problem, there's a solution or at least a stop-gap measure which would create a quiet time for real discussion about solving real problems. Ignore Georgia's Republicans until November 6th. If that works, we're onto something, eh? Talking to you, media.

[HagathaCrispy]

3. Republicans changed PA law because of the pandemic.

N/P

[Emile]

4. Their purpose is to make it look like something

is wrong about the election. Could this be their way of setting it up to steal?

[Earthrise]

5. They have to count the number of ballots - not determine who won each race.

They are essentially double-checking that the number of ballots is equal to the number of voters at the precinct.

Your points - that they should have 2-3 counters at each poll and this shouldn’t be happening at all are excellent - imposing this could wreck the election all on its own.

[perdita9]

6. There's a reason a canvass is required

I've worked the canvass in Pennsylvania several times now. The results released election night are unofficial. A few days after the election, volunteers complete a canvass. As a D, I sit across from an R and we go through each precinct, making sure the number of voters matches the number of ballots cast. We remake any ballot that wasn't counted by the machine, count provisional ballots determined to be legally cast etc.

After we finish, the county runs tests with ballots from random precincts, doing hand counts to make sure the counters are working correctly.

Georgia isn't ensuring the accuracy of an election. They're trying to throw the election to Trump.

[Jmb 4 Harris-Walz]

7. There is NO tabulating involved. They are simply counting the BALLOTS to ensure the hand count matches the

machine count of the BALLOTS not who voted for who, simply the NUMBER of BALLOTS.

[GoCubsGo]

11. Thank you!!!

There's still an element of potential human error here, and that's what they're counting on. But, they're not hand-counting what is on the ballots.

[Blue_Roses]

8. I'll go count...

anything to make sure it's done honestly

[Liberal In Texas]

9. I've been hearing that this maga state election board does not have the authority to make

all of the changes that they're doing. That many of them violate actual Georgia law.

I hope the lawsuits can rectify most of this. Otherwise it's just an attempt at a maga roadblock.

[mwooldri]

10. Three? Meanwhile in Sunderland, UK....

When the polls close at 10pm, there's an unofficial race on to be the first seat to declare. Houghton and Sunderland South were the quickest this last time around. 40,133 votes (101 of those invalid) were all delivered to the counting location, ballots verified and then counted .... In 75 minutes.

This is however just one race.

I don't know how many precincts per congressional district. For arguments sake I'm going to take a scientific wild-ass guess at about 200 precincts per CD. So this is 600 people counting. And it's not just the presidential race. There's possibly Senate, definitely US House, and various state and local races too.

I can't wrap my head around this.

[LeftInTX]

12. They hand counted the primary in one small Texas county. Lots of errors.

I read they are not counting each race. I believe they are counting the number of ballots cast. So if 100 walk into the polls and cast a ballot and the machine states that 100 people voted, they expect 100 ballots to be in their stack.

(Some people check in, then walk out without voting. There's always a few drunks, but they're probably checking machine versus hand)

Still it's stupid. Our final results are canvassed via machine. Paper ballots are back up for recounts. Even then, machines are used for the recount. I think if is a certain difference after the first recount, then a hand recount can be performed. The machine recount was alot of work because we loaded the ballots manually and caught a few errors, (The errors did not cause any ballots to be discarded. Judge messed up on the job). However, if the race had been off by only 30 votes, then those ballots could have come into play and disputed etc. ( I believe that's how many ballots had issues) Both candidates were aware of the issues. The case probably would have ended up in court and a judge would have decided what to do with the 30 ballots. (I think in the end, a judge would have allowed the ballots, because the election judge made a dumb mistake, but her dumb mistake did not change the validity of the ballots)

Mail ballots (paper ballots) often have a few issues. Some are not properly marked. Sometimes there is an extra mark, but faint and there are a few overvotes in mail ballots, which is impossible with electronic ballots. Mail ballots are scanned by machine. I believe if overvotes are caught prior to scanning, both votes in the race are discarded, but the other races are counted.

[LeftInTX]

14. That's what we have here and it sounds like that is what they have in Georgia.

They just don't "trust the tabulating machine's internal coding"

[Fiendish Thingy]

15. Counting Canadian ballots is much simpler than US ballots

For federal elections at least, there is but one race to count- the local member of parliament seat.

In Georgia, there could be over a dozen races on the ballot to count- president, senator (not this year), congress, state legislature, and other state offices.