In fact, in many ways, the second scan is more important than the first tabulation. If you do this secondary ballot card and vote accounting right, you can create an index, library and accounting of every ballot card and all votes cast. You can identify what's not adding up and drill down and look for explanations among the paper and tabulation systems--ie, where scanners err, etc. In 2006, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, said the best way to audit vote counts was using dual verification. The pushback then was the technology did not exist. Well, it's here now. It's not hard to understand this: you vote on paper and double check the results.
You also asked about Florida and Broward County's Brenda Snipes. When I was in Florida, I asked other election supervisors about what happened with Broward County's premature destruction of 2016 ballots. What I was told was underlings, not Snipes, mistakenly destroyed the ballots with others (that were more than 22 months old and could legally be shredded). But Snipes tried to cover for their mistakes. You can believe that or not. Tim Canova, the Democrat who lost two primaries to Debbie Wasserman Schultz, believes he was targeted and vote counts were hacked. I can't tell you anything more than what I just said.
I see Broward's recent travails as indicative of administrators lacking in training, precision and execution. And that goes back the first thing you asked about--whether Jill Stein's Pennsylvania settlement would improve its election machinery and recounts. It may. It may not. All of these variables matter. Running elections well requires an engineering mentality to map out every step, make the right choice at decision points and anticipate problems. Verifying the vote requires an accounting mentality, to produce a balance sheet with millions of ingredients -- statewide votes. These are complicated tasks. They're also underfunded, under-resourced and often privatized. But I have seen relatively new tools that can bring unprecedented transparency and accountability. The question, as always, is will they be used.
JB: As usual, you raise important issues. Thanks for talking with me again, Steve. I look forward to our next installment.
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Some of my prior interviews with Rosenfeld:
Midterm Recap with Voting Booth's Steven Rosenfeld 11.28.18
Ferguson Lays Bare Police Brutality and Racism in America 12.4.2014
Recent NSA Ruling Actually REALLY Bad News? 12.24.2013
Progressive Journalist Steven Rosenfeld on Infiltrating GOP Voter Vigilante Project 8.31.12
Sneak Preview of "Count My Vote - A Citizen's Guide to Voting" by Steven Rosenfeld 7.11.08
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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