By Eleanor Hare, special to Statehouse Report | Before the widespread use of digital computers, we cast our votes on hand-marked and hand-counted paper ballots. The meaning of recount was unambiguous. Both counting and recounting were done by people. Now that computers have replaced hand -counting, we need to reevaluate procedures used to count and recount the vote.
“Recounting” the votes on South Carolina’s voting machines
What does “recount” mean when there are no ballots to recount? Care must be taken to use the best available procedure for detecting errors in the original count.
Although South Carolina’s voting machines do not use tangible ballots, copies of the ballot information and the number of times that votes were cast exist in electronic data, stored in the memory chips of each voting machine. A post-election audit compares information in the electronic files and ensures that all the votes have been collected by the poll workers. Since there are no physical ballots to recount, the post-election audit would be a good choice to “recount” the ballot. The State Election Commission currently conducts post-election audits, but the results may not be available before the results are certified.
Paper ballots
The purpose of a recount is to check for a possible error in the original count. Scanning the ballots a second time is unlikely to accomplish that goal.
In South Carolina, provisional, failsafe, emergency and absentee paper ballots are hand-marked. Hand-marked ballots have always involved ambiguity. Not all voters follow instructions. Some have been known to circle the candidate’s name, scratch out all names except one or indicate their choice in some other unanticipated manner.
Scanners recognize only the carefully-filled-in boxes that voters are intended to mark and may not detect the intent of voters who do not follow instructions. Because scanners are computers and computers are consistent, if the same ballots are rescanned the totals are unlikely to change.
When it is necessary to recount a small number of paper ballots, a hand count may be the best choice.
The future
When voting technology changes, the procedures used to recount must be reexamined. New vulnerabilities, introduced when scanners are used to count the vote, require additional confirmation of results.
When South Carolina replaces its aging voting machines, it will almost certainly change to paper ballots, counted by scanners. A count of such a large number of ballots by hand would be ridiculous (and very likely inaccurate).
Scanners are computers. In addition to the well-known vulnerabilities of computers, such as hacking and incorrect programming, scanners are subject to miscalibration. Even when results are not close, procedures to confirm that paper ballots have been scanned correctly should be used in every election.
Some experts have proposed assuring the correctness of the results by scanning all ballots a second time, using a different scanning system. Another suggestion uses statistical methods and a random selection of ballots. One manufacturer uses a combination scanner and ballot box, which reads the ballot back to the voter. If the voter accepts the scan, the ballot is accepted, counted, and dropped into the ballot box.
No voting technology is invincible. New technologies pose new challenges, but a wise choice of procedures can minimize the vulnerabilities of any technology.
- Eleanor Hare, a Ph.D. in computer science, is retired associate professor emerita of computer science at Clemson University. Have a comment? Send it to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
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