Election Integrity
Video Report – Express XL Voting Machine
ES&S ExpressVote XL
• All-In-One Touch-Screen Voting MachineNo Hand-Marked Paper Ballots
• 2x As Expensive As Ballot Marking Devices (BMDs) With Optical Scanners
• Longer Voter Wait Lines
• Suppress The Vote (More Complex)
• Requires More Machines (1 XL/500 Voters vs 1 BMD/4000 Voters)
• More Machines = More Storage Space = More Money
• Ballot Replaced By Summary Card
• Most Voters Will Not Take The Time To Review The Summary Card
• Voter Does Not Know If The Bar Codes Read By The Machine Reflect His/Her Choices
• At Least 3 States Have Reported Machine Failures (Pennsylvania, New Jersey And Texas)
• To Date, 5 New York State Counties Have Been Solicited To Purchase These Machines
• Monroe County Has Purchased 1000 Machines For $12,000,000
• Suffolk County Are Considering Putchasing 2750 Machines For $34,000,000
• Erie and Orange Counties Have Purchased Some Machines On A Trial Basis
Opposing ExpressVote XL Voting Machines
Citizens counter machine company sales pitch with facts in an effort to have Suffolk County investigate options instead of rushing to allocate $34 million to purchase these controversial machines.
Hand Counting
Connect with a local group and learn to hand count paper ballots. Our Express one-hour training is in person and is a great team builder with a purpose.
Hand counting:
• is the historical method of counting ballots.
• Is still used in most countries
• determines voter intent more effectively
• reduces time and expense
• allows for local oversight, no delegation to high tech entities
• can be used to audit machine count totals
• can obtain election results in one day
• resolves chain of custody issues
Columbia County, NY Hand Counting
Virginia Martin talks about her modified 100% hand-count elections in her Columbia County in eastern New York State, just south east of Albany.
Dr. Virginia Martin was appointed Democratic Election Commissioner in Columbia County, New York in 2008. She received her PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in rhetoric and communication and has taught at both RPI and the University at Albany. Since the introduction of optical scanners in 2010, she and her Republican counterpart have conducted full hand counts of paper ballots in every election. They have developed an efficient, prompt, cost-effective, and fully secure bipartisan process that welcomes public oversight. Its modest funding is spent locally on appreciative and well-trained poll workers. Martin is frequently called upon by various organizations and the media to speak about her county’s vote-tabulation process.
The best first step is to set a date to host your own hand counting training session or join a nearby session.
The “Missouri Method” is Demonstrated Using Missouri Election Law
Verifying Voting-machine Output with Digitally Imaged Ballots
Demonstration of a ballot auditing technique developed by Wisconsin Election Integrity. Verifying voting-machine output with digitally imaged ballots – April 14 2015