Paper Ballots


THE GOLD STANDARD

Durable voter marked paper ballots allow for full citizen oversight of elections—the foundation of democratic self-governance.

 

Durable, hand marked paper ballots must be established as the national standard for democratic elections in the United States. 

Currently, fourteen states use some form of Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) Touchscreen voting machines that provide no paper ballot at all.  

The addition of a flimsy and poorly designed “Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail” (VVPAT) to some of the Touchscreen machines has failed to provide the same security and proof of voter intent as a true paper ballot.

In states where paper ballots are still used, they are counted by Optical Scanners. These are computers which are programmed - just like the DRE machines - by private companies using software off limits to public inspection. These scanners are also vulnerable to both fraud and error, and therefore must be checked against a robust, public manual audit of the paper ballots on election night.

While using paper may sound antiquated, the consensus among election security experts is that nothing else provides the needed reliability, security, and transparency. Durable, voter marked paper ballots are appropriate technology for public elections.

  • Hand Counted Paper Ballots are considered the "Gold Standard" of democratic elections

  • Only paper ballots provide physical proof of the voter's intent

  • Paper ballots can be safely recounted in case of a contested result

  • Counting paper ballots in public provides 100% oversight and transparency

  • Unlike computer voting systems:
     -paper ballots can't break down or malfunction
    - paper ballots are not programmed secretly by unaccountable private corporations
    - paper ballots cannot be hacked or rigged


AREN'T PAPER BALLOTS EASY TO RIG - REMEMBER THE OLD "STUFFED" BALLOT BOXES?

Stuffing ballot boxes and rigging elections on a large scale is possible, but it is hard work and easy to detect, whereas electronic voting allows the same crime to be committed with a stroke of a key, without detection.

It is possible to prevent paper ballot rigging through robust physical security measure which can minimize the risk and make it extremely likely that fraud would be detectable.

See-through ballot boxes are used world wide to prevent pre-election ballot box stuffing. Most important is a secure "chain of custody" of the ballots as they are moved from precincts to central counting locations. Where possible, counting the ballots at the precinct before they are moved provides robust verification. Putting a live camera on the boxes as they travel is another form of appropriate technology in election security.
 

CAN'T WE JUST GET RID OF ALL THE ELECTRONIC MACHINES AND JUST COUNT ALL THE BALLOTS BY HAND?

Hand-counting ballots is common in Europe and Canada which has a parliamentary system of government where voters only cast one vote for their preferred party. This makes hand counting much simpler. U.S. ballots are far, far more complex making hand counting difficult in large jurisdictions.

Additionally, there is currently absolutely no political will to end the use of e-voting in in the United States. The political struggle right now is to end the use of ballotless touch screens and mandate robust post-election audits.

However, the ability to hand count every ballot will be preserved and training provided through auditing every election.