The right to vote, as well as the principle of “one person, one vote,” are cornerstones of our democracy. The anti-slavery, women’s suffrage, and civil rights movements as well as the expansion of voting to young people are all part of the history of voting rights in this country. Equally fundamental is the assurance that each voter knows that her or his vote counts and is counted as intended. At this time in our history, many have lost confidence in our voting system. This confidence must be restored.
Last year, I observed five hand-counted paper ballots (HCPB) elections: three in Massachusetts, one in Vermont and one in Maine. All five hand-countings of the paper ballots were conducted smoothly, without any hassles and were finished in a timely manner. Although HCPB do not address the egregious suppression of the vote, coupling the elimination of this suppression with HCPB is the only way we will have fair, honest, transparent elections.
In Acton, Maine, in the General Election on November 7, 2006, I observed six teams of two counters each, hand-count paper ballots. Each team was made up of a Republican and a Democrat. Not only did each team hand-count the paper ballots, but also they immediately audited the hand-count. That is, they did a second hand-count immediately after the first hand-count. With seven races and two initiatives, the six teams of two people each were able to hand-count twice 944 ballots in four hours.
Let's say in our HCPB elections, we pay each hand-counter $18/hour - a decent wage for the most important job in preserving our democracy. Let's say in each precinct of 1000 voters, we use twenty counters, ten teams of two counters each. Let's say we pay them for six hours. That comes to $2160.00 for the cost of the hand-counters on election night. It also keeps the money in the community.
Electronic voting machines cost thousands of dollars to buy, and then there is the maintenance and replacement. States have paid millions of dollars to privatized voting machine companies to buy both DRE's (touch screens or direct recording electronic) and optical scan voting machines (op scans or opti scans). Both DRE's and optical scans are electronic voting machines. And although op scan electronic voting machines use paper ballots, these ballots are counted by machines. Both DRE's and optical scan electronic voting machines have been publicly hacked. It is way past time to get rid of these electronic voting machines entirely, never mind by-passing New York State Law to buy them.
Sheila Parks, Ed.D.