Cassie Craven:  Let’s Get Back to the Old School Way of Hand Counting Ballots

If you want something done right, do it yourself. And in the case of voting, some folks don’t trust a machine to hold our representative republic’s outcome in its unfettered power.

The Wyoming House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee heard testimony Jan. 31 regarding a bill that would allow Wyoming to be the first state to ban electronic voting machines. This line of thinking could have some merit to it. Hand recounts under the public’s eye could restore trust in our election process.

So much testimony emerged regarding this issue that the committee had to postpone the rest of the hearing until Monday. People really care about this, and the why doesn’t matter anymore. The fact is, they do.

Either the Legislature can act, or the issue will make its way to the ballot in 2026 for the voters to speak directly on it.

Just as it was in Wyoming, this exact issue was a key component in other races around the country for Secretary of State elections.

One such candidate who won his race was Missouri’s new Secretary of State Denny Hoskins. He won after he called for a mandate to hand count ballots for all elections, saying he distrusts the machine method. This was described by the state’s local news as “the biggest issue in the race.”

Our neighbors in Nebraska have dabbled with the idea as well. While Secretary of State Bob Evnen did not vocally support it, he did use it in an attempt to silence criticism from some who wanted hand counting. What he used as an effort to tout low error proved the point many were trying to make – there is error where there should be none.

The Nebraska Secretary checked at least one precinct in all 93 counties and found a total of 11 ballot discrepancies.

Five of the 11 impacted ballots had ovals that were not filled in darkly enough to be read by the machines, but the people doing the hand recount were able to verify the voters’ intent.

Proponents of the machines claim that these are “secure” and cannot be altered. In Wyoming, we’ve spent a few million to hire the company ES&S to supply us with the technology. Their own website says, “Some components (such as surface mount capacitors, resistors, inductors and fixed logic devices) are at times sourced from China-based manufacturers.”

A 7-year-old kid was able to hack into a voting machine at a 2018 DEFCON hacking event. Some of the kids reprogrammed it to play music and animated clips. But don’t worry, your vote is safe because the University of Wyoming took a poll and 94% of people trust them. Don’t ask questions, you conspiracy theorist.

According to ProPublica, ES&S-managed machines were used in Georgia where 150,000 voters inexplicably didn’t cast a vote for lieutenant governor. Those machines did not produce paper backups and it wasn’t clear whether mechanical or human error was the cause.  In Indiana, brand new machines erred so much that officials couldn’t determine whether some people voted more than once. In Florida, 18,000 votes were lost.

ES&S is also known for its litigation tactics and lobbyists. The company’s lobbyist in Louisianna reportedly donated $13,250 to Gov. John Edwards, who canceled ES&S’s competitor’s contract after the company filed a complaint against the state in sore-loser litigation. Louisianna’s Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said, “The governor’s administration just sided with a company that was $40 million more expensive.”

ProPublica reports that the company is owned by the McCarthy Group, a private equity firm. Its financial records are not public. In a written response to the ProPublica reporter’s questions, the company said it was found blameless in these election controversies and that Georgia was responsible for the maintenance of its machines so ES&S could not update the software.

This seems like a whole lot of politics and uncertainty where none belong. I think it’s time we kick it old school. In a world that seems to be flying off the hinges, how about we get back to the basics? Hand counting, oversight, and double-checking in the public eye will restore people’s sense of integrity in our election process. Who cares anymore about why the distrust started - let’s start taking control of how it ends.

Cassie Craven can be reached at: ccraven.law@gmail.com