So how did computerized voting go from being bad to good?

[OAITW r.2.0]

I lived thru 2000 / 2004/ 2016. Now we win?

[Crunchy Frog]

1. Who's saying that it's good? It's not the issue that we're dealing with right now.

[garybeck]

2. we won.

just kidding.
some of the issues with computer voting have been dealt with. the way to make them trustworthy is to have paper ballots that are scanned, and random audits to make sure they are counting properly. some states have this. some states that had paperless voting have gotten rid of them. all the problems are not fixed but it's better than it was in 2000

[garybeck]

3. Verified Voting . org

that's the site you can trust and learn more about it.

[OAITW r.2.0]

6. That is how we do it in ME.

Make you mark on paper, then optically scan. Then audit the results.

[Hoyt]

4. Just proves it was never as bad as many thought. We win when we vote.

[intrepidity]

9. No, it does not prove that

Much effort has been undertaken to mitigate the risks, as discussed everywhere.

[Hoyt]

10. Does to me. Hopefully those who were claiming votes were flipped to trump

for a few days after Nov 3, learned something too.

[intrepidity]

12. And if, miraculously, our federal govt had been successful in preventing this pandemic

no doubt you'd be first in line to tell us how it was never really a serious threat.

I know this "type" well.

[Hoyt]

13. Nope, would not. At least I'm not quick to jump on the latest conspiracy or

excuse for “I was robbed” when we beat ourselves.

[kcr]

5. Says who?

[Bev54]

7. Paper ballots this year, including in Georgia

as per court ruling.

[TheBlackAdder]

8. It's sucks if there isn't a paper audit trail. But, more scrutiny on jump drives and internet access

[OAITW r.2.0]

14. See post 6 above. Deep red county in ME 2. No worries, though. Vote in person

because that is what we do in our small town (3500 pp). Lots voted for Trump, many voted for Biden/Gideon - me included.

[fleabiscuit]

11. 45 states use hand-marked paper ballots. nt

[herding cats]

15. Where I am in Texas we fill out our ballot on a computer screen, then print it and scan it.

We get to review our ballot before it's fed into the machine and scanned. It's so much better than the previous DREs we used here before.

[OAITW r.2.0]

17. Sounds good at the user level.

Problem is data manipulation at a macro level.

[herding cats]

19. Which applies to any optical scan system.

Our ballet is handed to us pre registered. We feed it into a machine, make choices then it prints out our finished ballot. Which is linked to our ballot and voter number. If it were contested at least there's a trail back. Way better than the DREs. Leaps and bounds better. There's a paper trail, a ballot we see with our own eyes with our choices on it and electronic markers which link it back to us individually.

Hand counting paper ballots isn't feasible in densely populated areas, this is close and works. The fear of optical scanners is what led to the rise of DREs, which were deeply inferior, IMO.

[OAITW r.2.0]

20. Good post!

In densely populated places you have to audit....but there needs to be a back-up reference. Like paper.

[pecosbob]

16. The basic issue I have with electronic voting systems is the inherent vulnerability of the tallies

Any device connected to anything else is inherently hackable through it's ability to communicate with other devices. Only with absolute transparency at the hardware and software vendors end can such systems be unequivocally trusted.

There is a separate but equally dangerous situation in the vulnerability of states' voter databases that simply invites those with malicious intent to monkey with registrations or otherwise misuse voter information.

[OAITW r.2.0]

18. Got to be a hard record of all ballots that can be verified on a recount.

Destroy the paper ballots after certification.

[frazzled]

21. Because the machines have gotten so much better

We’ve always had a choice here when you vote on Election Day to take a paper ballot (connect the arrow or fill in the circle) or use the electronic machine. Almost everybody would choose the ballot, fill it out, take it over to the scanner, and see the counter register your vote. (One year I over voted on a judicial retention slot, and the scanner spit it out. The election worker gave me a new ballot, and I filled the whole thing out again.)

One year we were going to be out of town on Election Day, however, and voted early. Only electronic machines. It was primitive, confusing, and clunky. I did not like it one bit.

This year, during the primaries in March, just as the pandemic was taking off, we decided to vote early, computer machines or not. This time the machines were brand new. Super easy and clear, a very transparent review process, and then it spits out a full-size paper ballot (just like the ones you fill out yourself), which you take over to the scanner and feed in to be counted.

Then in the general, we voted by mail. Paper ballot again, but even though you can track, honestly, you don’t know that it was the ballot you filled out that they put through the scanner. Probably is, but all the same, who knows.

As long as there’s a paper trail, there is no one of these systems that is more secure than the other. Ultimately, all three just go into a scanner, which could misread or miscount (but probably doesn’t). All three leave the same paper-ballot trail in case of recount. I just prefer to be there when the ballot is being tallied.

All in all, I feel like all systems of voting in my area are very secure.