Previously Published in The Messenger
In the modern age, election security is not only one of the most salient issues, but one of the most politically radioactive.
When Donald Trump (R-FL) lost in 2020, Republicans decried it as election fraud, which was never conclusively proven one way or the other. Now, Democrats are opining that the 2024 election was stolen from Kamala Harris (D-CA).
Much of the ire comes down to the machines, and many wish for the “hanging chads” problem of 2000 since paper ballots are, on paper, much harder to fudge than electronic machines.
But the Suffolk County Board of Elections (BoE) has just rolled out an entirely new, state-of-the-art fleet of machines that marry the past with the future and seek to give all parties what they want.
First, we’re incredibly impressed with the accessibility features. Not only can the machines be angled to accommodate wheelchair-bound voters, but blind and even paralyzed voters can still keep the privacy and sanctity of the ballot box intact. It seems as if the BoE thought of everything in that regard.
The ability to change the display language mid-voting session is also a great touch, as ballot measures, that are often verbose and somewhat confusing, can be displayed in a different language for ease of understanding.
The lengthy and often bitter battles of write-in candidacies are also erased with these machines, as there will be no way to challenge illegible penmanship since the machines will print them just like the other text on the ballot.
The printed ballot also makes this a hybrid system. The voter can see their ballot as they f illed it out before it’s cast. The paper ballot is then secured in a lockbox as a backup record to square electronically reported results.
The best part: the machines are not Internet-accessible. This was the greatest cause of concern during the 2020 debacle, as machines that were ostensibly not accessed via the Internet still had those capabilities. And even if there’s no cable plugged into the Ethernet port, it doesn’t necessarily mean the machine is inaccessible wirelessly. The new machines rolled out by BoE don’t even talk to each other, let alone other devices.
We appreciate the balance, nuance, and consideration taken when getting these machines online.