I was wrong. Paper ballots are way to go
This spring, after I got a side-by-side preview of Lehigh and Northampton counties’ new voting systems, I wondered if Lehigh had made a mistake.
It elected to go back to the basics and have voters fill out a paper ballot, then scan it into a computer to be tabulated. The two-step process seemed backward, and time-consuming.
Northampton, on the other hand, had a touchscreen machine that tabulated votes and created a backup paper ballot from the buttons that were pushed. Voters didn’t have to take a second step.
The process was more efficient.
While appreciated, efficiency isn’t the goal of an election. Accuracy is.
After hearing Thursday why Northampton’s touchscreen system crapped out on Election Day, I wonder whether all counties should be holding elections as Lehigh is, starting with a piece of paper.
Northampton’s $2.8 million electronic system didn’t work because of “human error.”
Employees at Election Systems & Software, the Nebraska company that made Northampton’s touchscreen machines, screwed up. Several times.
A poor ballot layout resulted in votes not being tabulated correctly in races where candidates cross-filed as both Republicans and Democrats. And we’re not talking about a small goof. It misrepresented the results of a judge’s race. On Election Night, machines in dozens of precincts didn’t register any votes for Democrat Abe Kassis. After an all-night recount using the backup paper ballots, Kassis was determined to have won a seat on the bench.
Another problem was that improper screen configuration resulted in some voters struggling to get their selections to register on the screen.
Both machine problems were missed during preelection testing.
Only because the machines created a paper ballot as a backup were officials were able to determine who won.
County Executive Lamont McClure stressed repeatedly at a news conference Thursday that because of the paper backup, the election was legal and accurate. He said changes will be made to ensure the machines work correctly next year, during the presidential election. He said voters should have confidence.
But the source of the problems is scary.
Technology is only as good as the people behind it. If those people aren’t perfect, the technology won’t work.
None of us are perfect, of course. Mistakes happen. But when it comes to counting votes, there has to be a perfect process to catch those mistakes.
About 4,000 of those machines, the ExpressVote XL, are in use nationwide. The problems occurred only in
Northampton County, ES&S Senior Vice President Adam Carbullido said at the news conference. That’s because it had a unique ballot layout, he said.
That doesn’t lessen the enormity of what happened.
If screen problems cause votes to be miscast in just one county, that can tip the results of a state. And one state can tip the results of the nation in a presidential election.
So let’s not don’t downplay it.
While I now favor Lehigh’s system, I’m troubled that it didn’t work perfectly, either.
Voters filling out their paper ballots felt like they didn’t have adequate privacy. With only one scanner at each polling place, there’s the potential for long lines. A few blind voters couldn’t use special equipment designed for them. And a printing error caused a Bethlehem Area School Board candidate to be left off some ballots.
Those problems are easier to solve. Add more scanners and get better privacy screens. And double-check ballots for accuracy.
Systems with paper trails were a requirement of Gov. Tom Wolf ’s administration as it sought to improve election security after an unsuccessful hacking attempt by Russians during the 2016 presidential election.
His demand was costly, about $150 million statewide.
The good news is that the reason there was a tabulation glitch in Northampton, “instructional text” that explained how straight-party ticket votes would appear, won’t be necessary because the state won’t allow straightparty voting anymore.
And voters who don’t trust the machines won’t have to use them. The same law that scrapped straight-party voting also authorized voting by mail. Voters can request a mail-in ballot up to 50 days before an election.
Two other nearby counties, Schuylkill and Lackawanna, bought their new voting systems Wednesday, and opted to go with ones similar to Lehigh’s. They’ll use paper ballots and scan them.
“We’re talking a step backward,” Schuylkill County Administrator Gary Bender said, according to the Pottsville Republican Herald.
No, you didn’t. You made a wise choice.
Morning Call columnist Paul Muschick can be reached at 610-820-6582 or paul.muschick@mcall.com