Your vote likely was counted

Another View, Bill McGrath, Northfield News

If you voted recently in Rice County, and are wondering whether the ballot you cast actually got counted, the answer is "Yes, it almost certainly did."

However, in some other states there is no way of knowing what happened to your vote. That's because in those states, touch-screen voting machines were used. Many of those machines have no "paper trail." There is no way to do a recount.

Minnesota does not use touch-screen machines. Instead, we use paper ballots that are tabulated by a computer. If anyone questions the accuracy of the computer, a bi-partisan crew after the election can open the sealed box of paper ballots and count them.

On Nov. 15, I participated as an observer of a vote re-count that was done at the Rice County courthouse. For three hours, I watched election judges (citizens) count paper ballots that were cast in two of Rice County's precincts that had been chosen at random.

It was the first time in Minnesota history that the optical-scan voting machines have been audited. The Minnesota legislature recently passed an audit law to assess accuracy of these machines. The law (MN Statute 206.89) provides for a public presence during this vote-counting exercise.

Results of the Nov. 15 recount?

In one particular precinct -- Ward 4, Precinct 2 in Northfield -- the precinct tabulating machine had earlier shown that Amy Klobuchar had 666 votes while Mark Kennedy had 343 votes. Lo and behold, the manual recount of paper ballots showed exactly those same numbers.

The tabulating machine had earlier shown that Tim Pawlenty had 452 votes while Mark Hatch had 510 votes. Manual recount showed exactly those same numbers.

The tabulating machine had earlier shown that John Kline had 475 votes while Coleen Rowley had 514 votes. Manual recount showed those same numbers.

Those three races -- U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives and Minnesota governor -- were the only ones studied in this election review. But the review was conducted in each of Minnesota's 87 counties. It also is being done in many other states that have paper ballots.

A similar recount of paper ballots in another precinct -- Northfield Township -- showed machine results matching exactly with hand recount: Klobuchar 261, Kennedy 165, Pawlenty 236, Hatch 183, Kline 237 and Rowley 195.

This was not the type of recount that is sometimes requested by a candidate. Instead, the Nov. 15 exercise was intended only to see if machines accurately counted ballots.

Two organizations -- Citizens for Election Integrity-Minnesota and the Minnesota League of Women Voters -- sponsored this election review.

Compare the Minnesota experience with what happened in Sarasota County, Florida, which is part of Florida's 13th Congressional District.

Because of malfunctioning touch-screen machines that had no paper trail, 18,382 votes were lost in Sarasota County. The Republican candidate for U.S. Congress in that race won by only 368 votes.

No way to do a recount in Sarasota. Courts have ruled that software in touch-screen machines are "proprietary." It is owned by the corporation that makes the machines. So examination of the software is not permitted.

Similar stories are emerging from other states regarding the recent election. And of course the presidential election results from Ohio in 2004 continue to be controversial even to this day, partly due to paperless machines.

(Minnesotans may have noticed a new machine this year in their voting location, and yes it did have a touch-screen feature. But that machine is merely a ballot-marking device. It's used instead of a pen/pencil for voters who cannot see, or who have difficulty working directly with paper ballots.)

If you leave the running of elections entirely up to state governments, some states will choose to purchase touch-screen machines with no paper trail.

That's why we need the U.S. Congress to require that all elections have paper ballots, available for recount purposes.

Contact your U.S. senator or member of congress. Tell them you want a paper trail in every election. He or she will already know what you're talking about. They're getting an earful of complaints about this topic.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this nformation for non-profit research and educational purposes only. Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article, nor is Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota endorsed or sponsored by the originator.