Dear John,
Some states and local jurisdictions, spurred on by baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, are considering legislation that would replace all machine tabulated election night results with hand-counting paper ballots – legislation that’s potentially nightmarish for election officials. When people have questions about how votes are cast and counted, they come to us for our reliable, nonpartisan information. Read our latest blog post for our take on hand counts: “Election Officials Need a Helping Hand, Not Hand Count Legislation.”
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According to Verifier data collected exclusively by our team, only .6 percent of registered voters live in jurisdictions where ballots are currently hand counted, mostly in small jurisdictions where few voters and short ballots make hand-counting feasible on election night.
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Hand counts of ballots are definitely needed when conducting post-election audits or checking close races. But hand-counting every single ballot in every race on election night is incredibly resource intensive, particularly in large jurisdictions and in any election where multiple races appear on the ballot. In the Washington Post, Verified Voting President Pam Smith said, “It’s a recipe for some chaos… and I do think that’s potentially very damaging to public trust in the process.”
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READ EVEN MORE about hand count legislation in these articles that we contributed to:
✔️POLITICO: “Trump backers push election change that would make counting slower, costlier and less accurate”
✔️Washington Post: “How Trump allies are pushing to hand-count ballots around the U.S.”
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We’ll continue to push back on efforts that make our elections less secure, support election officials with practical advice and assistance, give voters trusted information about the nuts and bolts of our elections, and keep collecting the data that journalists, policymakers, advocates, and the public rely on. Our work is more important than ever, and if you’ve ever used the Verifier or our other tools to stay informed, please consider a one-time or sustaining monthly contribution today.
With thanks,
The Verified Voting Team
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