Gimme paper ballots

[McCamy Taylor]

Or give me death!

This has to be the Democratic Party's message. Because if Russia is allowed to hack another election---this time with Trump and Sessions aiding them---democracy in America will be deader than a doornail forever. It was a Russian(Stalin--benefactor of the Koch Family) who said that he who counts the votes controls all. Don't let the Kremlin control our country! Resist! Make them count the votes in 2018---democracy's last stand!

[golfguru]

1. +1000

[mucifer]

2. they can throw the paper ballots in the lake.

It's happened before. Better than electronic I suppose . But , nothing is fool proof.

[diva77]

6. That's why must hand count at precinct as soon as polls close, then post results at precinct

sure, there will be some error, some precincts where someone may do something corrupt -- but not on the scale of computerized voting

[annabanana]

12. Yep!

[bdamomma]

7. get the freaking Russians out of

our elections for one, have updated voting equipment, get rid of Electoral College how long have we been saying that? and go back to paper ballots.

[diva77]

3. Don't forget to add "hand-counted" !!

[ProudLib72]

5. It happened again!

Nearly identical posts at the same time!

[diva77]

8. Great minds think alike!!!

[ProudLib72]

4. Paper ballots plus tabulation by a human

It's the tabulating machines that are the problem.

[aka-chmeee]

11. With you 100% on this

There is absolutely no need for the election outcome to be determined within hours. That is why there is a two month period between election and installation.

[amerikat]

9. I've done a great deal of thinking about this topic.

Yes. Paper Ballots for sure. And yes hand counted.
Perhaps a carbon copy type of ballot. One goes into the ballot box. The other
goes home with the voter in case a recount is needed.
Both Copies should have built in security features like money does and have matching serial numbers.
There also needs to be Chain of Custody security as they are sent to final tabulation centers. Perhaps
similar the the ballots themselves. Security features and serial numbers again.

I also think that two teams of three should count the ballots and the count must agree.

I'm sure there are things I haven't thought of. I'm open to suggestions.

We can't let a foreign country or either party screw with our democracy.

amerikat

edit for spelling.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

10. There Needs To Be A Backup In Place

I don't know exactly what to call it, but since Republicans insist on using the computerized touch-screen machines (gee, I wonder why that might be), you have a paper backup. The touch-screen machines I have in my polling place also prints out a paper "receipt" you're supposed to review before submitting your vote. It should be standard procedure that the touch-screen machine records your vote, then prints out a paper receipt that you can take with you. You take the paper receipt, review it to make sure everything is recorded correctly, and then drop it in a ballot box before leaving. At the end of the day, the touch-screen votes are calculated and the paper ballots in the ballot box get hand-counted. If the number doesn't match, then you know you've got malfeasance somewhere.

I'm not sure what the solution would be, but there has to be something better than what we have now (a system where people don't trust that their votes have been counted properly and their representatives shrug their shoulders at them). Of course, we'll never get real reforms like this passed through because the Republicans are in control of this, and it's to their BENEFIT that not everyone gets to vote.

Back in 2004, we had the whole Ken Blackwell voting machine fiasco here in Ohio that cost John Kerry the Presidency. Shortly thereafter (riding the wave of anti-Bush sentiment that permeated the country at the time), we elected Jennifer Brunner as our Secretary of State, and she put reforms in place to greatly cut down on the incidence of Republicans blocking qualified voters from voting. But eventually Ohio put another weasel Republican back in control of the Secretary of State's office who undid a lot of those reforms, and here we are stuck with those unreliable touch-screen machines again. There has to be a better way.

[annabanana]

13. And how about no media reports as to outcome until

one week after election day.

[ElementaryPenguin]

14. Right on! And hand counted.