In recent weeks, self-proclaimed election experts have instructed Northampton County Council to do their homework concerning new voting machines. What they are really telling Council is to reject ExpressVote XL, the choice of the Lamont McClure administration, Elections Commission and about 40 election judges. While touting a great reverence for democracy, they ignore democratic choices. They distrust a touch screen voting machine with a voter-verifiable paper record. They much prefer paper ballots, and dismiss the very serious potential for fraud that comes with it. In fact, that's why paper ballots were phased out in most jurisdictions many years ago.
In the early days of this country, there were no ballots at all. People voted viva voci. In Colonial Pennsylvania, you voted by tossing beans in a hat. No secret ballots either.
Paper ballots were a step up from tossing beans in a hat, but guess who prepared the ballots? The political parties. They would be printed up in advance and then taken to the polling place unless the person carrying them was jumped.
Before the trusty old lever machines, there are stories of paper ballots being switched in the trip from the slate belt to the courthouse. One bag would leave the polling place and be switched for another.
Lever machines pretty much eliminated most types of fraud. Then came the computer. Though most are stand alone, there were still worries about hacking. Or worse, vote flipping. That's a computer glitch in which you vote for one person, but the software program recognizes another. So the latest rage is a paper verified system. That is still suspect to many who think Republicans or those damn Russians have found a way to ensure that every vote is rigged. Maybe they have, but I doubt it.
Northampton County Council is waiting to see how the ExpressVote XL works out in Delaware. Voters in that state had school board elections on Tuesday. I've seen no news account that reports whether the machine functioned well or had problems.
Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
Local Government TV
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Wednesday, May 15, 2019
11 comments:
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.
The people wanting paper ballots fear the Russians or Trump will rig the election. They feel that machines are indeed evil much like the terminators.
ReplyDeletePaper ballots that stay in the machine, and that can be verified by the voter seem to be the ONLY logical, rational choice in an era where votes can be manipulated or flipped or discarded by outside agents -- and not leave a trace.
ReplyDeleteNow we hear two counties in Florida WERE breached -- but we can't know which ones they were, or what actually happened....because of a non-disclosure agreement?!
Every day, we get closer to learning that the 2016 election was seriously compromised.
Again, why would we NOT want every possibly safeguard in place to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Unless that is the point.
What NorCo needs is solar and wind-powered systems that record votes on toilet paper then you can use the paper and show your happiness with our elected bodies all at the same time.
ReplyDeleteЯ просто хочу, чтобы все в долине Лихай знали, что мы очень серьезно относимся к безопасности ваших выборов. За Путина!
ReplyDeleteWord on the street is that the machines in Delaware kept jamming up and created long lines for the users and voters.
ReplyDeleteWho cares? The Russians are going to make us all vote for Trump again anyway.
ReplyDelete11:59 You, mam' are a lier and a fraud
ReplyDeleteNorthampton County bought the XL machines directly from Putin. Than they also purchased a Chinese lady to fit in the XL machines from rocket man little Kim.
ReplyDeleteanon 11:49, the post of the day, Comrade!
ReplyDeleteTrump 2020
ReplyDeleteDemocrats are the ones who rig elections- remember Tamany Hall?
ReplyDelete