I’m not here to advance conspiracy theories, and I know many are probably thinking they have bigger concerns on their mind, but if now is not a good time to start caring then there probably never will be a good time. The integrity of our elections have been in a perilous state for quite some time due to outdated, insecure and non-verifiable voting systems. A google search is full of real world examples of voting machines that are or were in service that can be easily manipulated by people with little to no technical experience on an individual machine level to a state level. Black Box Voting is one of the leading sites that has been researching documenting the vulnerabilities of voting machines for many years, and still in this day and age where everything gets hacked our most precious system for democracy is in some cases less secure than a Windows XP computer.
How did all the pre-election polls and exit polls get it so wrong and none of the models hold up this time? When things happen you want to have total confidence in your system. If it was projected to be a Trump landslide and it went to Hillary instead, it could of had dire consequences for the nation, especially after Trump regularly proclaiming the election would be rigged.
While I think this loss rests squarely on the DNC and Clinton campaign, given the huge discrepancy in the models if you are familiar with just how vulnerable our systems it is hard not to wonder if there was any maleficence, no matter how remote the chance. While I have no reason believe there was any at all, let alone any that changed the overall outcome, there is also no reason for me to believe there wasn’t either due to the ease of exploitation combined with the polling discrepancies. And there in lies the rub… it should never be a question in anyone’s mind. I believe it should just be a given that the elections are totally secure and verifiable.
Keep in mind, the opposition is willing to go to great lengths to swing elections by disenfranchising voters. So when you’re advancing issues trying to allow more people the right to vote consider ensuring advancing the issue of having the votes counted in a verifiable and accurate way. The best outcome would be a federal mandate requiring a universal process requiring the same accountability, if not using the same machines and processes.
Personally, I propose the following system nationally. In Arizona whether you vote by mail or in person you get a paper ballot that you draw a line across to fill in the hollow arrow pointing to the person you want to vote for. It is a great process because it involves a physical ballot that can reviewed and recounted as opposed to bits on a flash card that can be changed.
The only real problem with this system is there is no way to verify the votes match with what ends up being certified. In theory someone could stuff extra ballots or throw ballots away or even change count totals (the latter would not hold up to a manual recount). Clearly manipulating the results en mass is not easy as flipping some bits, but it isn’t tamper proof. The solution is to attach a unique serial number to each ballot. The serial number will not be tied back to the actual person as to preserve the secret ballot process, but it will be tied to a precinct so it can be easier to determine if any significant anomalies have occurred. The voter can write down the serial number, or perhaps it has a pull tab with the number on it.
When the ballots are counted with the scanners they will upload the results to the state’s web page. On that page you can enter your serial number and the results from your ballot will be displayed. If you find your ballot was not counted or was changed you have a problem. I would venture to guess with passions and stakes as high as they are that enough of the populace would verify their vote that it would essentially self verify the results.
This process would not totally prevent ballot stuffing, but by making ballots serialized it would make it harder. Coupled with having serial numbers tied to specific precincts it would make it even tougher because anomalies would stand out much easier.
While we could implement verified voting with digital machines by offering a print out receipt of your selections that you could confirm against the official results online by serial number, I’m a firm believer that digital machines make it way easier to manufacture turnout.
While we have made improvements on the voting systems in this country we still have a way to go to feel totally confident in the results from every single state in country, especially when cases pop up where the polling data grossly diverges from the results.