HB 22 - Paper ballot trail required

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PriestTheRunner
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HB 22 - Paper ballot trail required

#1

Post by PriestTheRunner »

This should have always been the practice IMO...

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Hi ... &Bill=HB22

Sec.A129.003.AAPAPER AUDIT TRAIL REQUIRED. (a) In this
section, "auditable voting system" means a voting system that:
(1)AAuses a paper record; or
(2)AAproduces a paper receipt by which a voter can
verify that the voter ’s ballot will be counted accurately.
(b)AAExcept as provided by Subsection (d), a voting system
that consists of direct recording electronic voting machines may
not be used in an election unless the system is an auditable voting
system.
(c)AAExcept for a recount under Title 13, the electronic vote
is the official record of the ballot. For a recount of ballots cast
on a system involving direct recording electronic voting machines,
the paper record or receipt copy is the official record of the vote
cast.
(d)AAThis section does not apply to an election held before
September 1, 2021.
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Paladin
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Re: HB 22 - Paper ballot trail required

#2

Post by Paladin »

Sounds Good!

Fair and honest elections are the right thing to do. Anything else is not democracy.
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srothstein
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Re: HB 22 - Paper ballot trail required

#3

Post by srothstein »

My county (Caldwell) uses a system like this already and I liked it when I saw it this year. When I went in, I was asked to choose a ballot at random from a small stack. The ballots were all blank except for the judge's signature on them. I picked one and the judge ran it through the computer that checked me in. It printed some kind of code on it. I don't know what the code contained other than my voting precinct. I then went over to the other voting terminals. I put the paper ballot in it and the terminal brought up the races I could vote in. I went through the electronic ballot and voted, then verified the votes. When I said it was good, it printed the votes on the paper ballot, in plain English. I took the completed ballot over and put it in a third computer which read and tallied the ballots and kept the paper one.

This lets you verify the voting while you are doing it and count the votes pretty quickly. Since the ballot is printed with just your votes on it, and in a standardized font, the computer can read them quickly and easily. It also means there is a very clear paper trail that can be recounted if necessary.

I only came up with two minor flaws in the system. The first is that I am confident that the system can tie my ballot back to me. I did not look closely at the ballot to see what the doing looked like at first because I did not realize how it worked (this was the first time using this system for me). It may not tie the ballots to the voters, but it certainly has the potential. If you are a big fan of secret ballots, this is a real concern.

The second flaw is more of a suggestion. If the voting terminal had a roll of paper in it to print on, it could print a copy of my ballot for me to keep if I wanted to. This way I could verify my voting later if I wanted to. I did not think of this as a flaw until I was talking with a friend at work about it and he suggested it. It would make a lot of people more confident in the system if they went home with a copy of how they voted.
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bbhack
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Re: HB 22 - Paper ballot trail required

#4

Post by bbhack »

srothstein wrote: Wed Nov 14, 2018 11:07 pm
...

The second flaw is more of a suggestion. If the voting terminal had a roll of paper in it to print on, it could print a copy of my ballot for me to keep if I wanted to. This way I could verify my voting later if I wanted to. I did not think of this as a flaw until I was talking with a friend at work about it and he suggested it. It would make a lot of people more confident in the system if they went home with a copy of how they voted.
What's more important is that you can see into the database with a unique key to make sure your vote made it into the database.
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crazy2medic
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Re: HB 22 - Paper ballot trail required

#5

Post by crazy2medic »

I only came up with two minor flaws in the system. The first is that I am confident that the system can tie my ballot back to me. I did not look closely at the ballot to see what the doing looked like at first because I did not realize how it worked (this was the first time using this system for me). It may not tie the ballots to the voters, but it certainly has the potential. If you are a big fan of secret ballots, this is a real concern

I'm not too concerned about the Secret Ballot thing, if they are going to come after me for my voting record then they will have a bigger agenda with my Guns and stockpiled ammo!
Government, like fire is a dangerous servant and a fearful master
If you ain't paranoid you ain't paying attention
Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war let it begin here- John Parker
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PriestTheRunner
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Re: HB 22 - Paper ballot trail required

#6

Post by PriestTheRunner »

Your system sounds much better than ours. Ours just dumps blindly into a centralized console that keep a tally. No paper trail. No voting record. No way to verify the vote physically (you do get a screen to verify your votes before submitting)... I do not like it one bit.

My preferred method is the one-two scanner where one machine determines available ballots (IE who you vote for), standardizes your format and prints. A second machine 'reads' and electronically tallies votes. The hard print remains as backup. I also prefer to be able to get a 'key' to see how I voted and that my vote was included in the tally. The key does not need to be combined with any identifying information, but in a large enough group, the 'key' could prove that numbers are not being changed on the back end.

Obviously having 2 personnel from each "side" present at all times when votes are not centrally locked up is a major issue - AND these people need to be known in their communities so you can't have a 'plant'. It can be made secure and trustworthy, but the current system (and the front end of who gets to vote) needs a ton of work...

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Re: HB 22 - Paper ballot trail required

#7

Post by jordanmills »

srothstein wrote: Wed Nov 14, 2018 11:07 pm My county (Caldwell) uses a system like this already and I liked it when I saw it this year. When I went in, I was asked to choose a ballot at random from a small stack. The ballots were all blank except for the judge's signature on them. I picked one and the judge ran it through the computer that checked me in. It printed some kind of code on it. I don't know what the code contained other than my voting precinct. I then went over to the other voting terminals. I put the paper ballot in it and the terminal brought up the races I could vote in. I went through the electronic ballot and voted, then verified the votes. When I said it was good, it printed the votes on the paper ballot, in plain English. I took the completed ballot over and put it in a third computer which read and tallied the ballots and kept the paper one.

This lets you verify the voting while you are doing it and count the votes pretty quickly. Since the ballot is printed with just your votes on it, and in a standardized font, the computer can read them quickly and easily. It also means there is a very clear paper trail that can be recounted if necessary.

I only came up with two minor flaws in the system. The first is that I am confident that the system can tie my ballot back to me. I did not look closely at the ballot to see what the doing looked like at first because I did not realize how it worked (this was the first time using this system for me). It may not tie the ballots to the voters, but it certainly has the potential. If you are a big fan of secret ballots, this is a real concern.

The second flaw is more of a suggestion. If the voting terminal had a roll of paper in it to print on, it could print a copy of my ballot for me to keep if I wanted to. This way I could verify my voting later if I wanted to. I did not think of this as a flaw until I was talking with a friend at work about it and he suggested it. It would make a lot of people more confident in the system if they went home with a copy of how they voted.
I'm a total computer nerd and have "digitized" just about all of my life (except for baby drool and teething biscuits). If there's one thing I've learned from twenty-plus years of messing with computers for fun and profit, it's that crashes and malware can't mess up a physical artifact that is already rendered - like a printed/punched piece of paper. I'd probably feel a lot better with that system than with an all-electronic voting thing that we use in harris county.
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