Why change election methods?
To be blunt: Because our elections are not secure. The need for decent elections was demonstrated to me personally in 2012. For the first time, I decided to observe the primary vote count at the San Diego Registrar of Voters building. I brought a camcorder not sure what I would record, but it wound up drastically changing my perspective. Every box of ballots unloaded from the delivery trucks had broken tamper seals. Whether it was poor instructions delivered to the volunteers or actual electoral fraud, it was clear the chain of custody was broken. I delivered my video evidence to a lawyer who was involved in an audit movement, and was met with complete silence. The count was accepted. There were no news stories. It was business as usual. This was unacceptable.
What I witnessed weighed heavily on my mind, but I was very busy working on research for a startup. I'd replay the events in my mind while showering or at the gym, but what could I do? I hadn't the time nor experience to tackle the problem.
In 2020 I decided to retire from the medical industry. I took a much needed vacation and began writing a book. Then the "most secure election ever" happened. Speaking about stolen elections or illegal ballots in 2020 made someone a far-right conspiracy theorist, whereas four years earlier it was mainstream chatter on the left. Beliefs about voter fraud are highly correlated with party affiliation- flipping as necessary depending on which party wins. The fighting is escalating and the communication gap is widening. The fighting has to stop. We need truly secure elections everyone can verify.
And that's not just my opinion.
Voter confidence in the United States is among the lowest of the OECD nations. It ranks 27th of only 32 members. Fully six in ten Americans do not have confidence in the honesty of our electoral systems. This is unacceptable.
"Americans' current level of confidence in their elections is far from the lowest it has been at times in the past decade, but it is notably one of the worst ratings across the world's wealthiest democracies. Ratings were statistically lower last year only in Chile (31%) and Mexico (30%)."
The erosion of voter confidence is an epidemic that only continues to grow. Interest in voter fraud is national. It is not relegated to any particular region and is not distinct between states of opposing political ideology. Voter confidence is truly a national crisis.
Dipping confidence is a natural consequence of news reports involving "electoral irregularities". When a box of ballots is found in a dumpster behind an elementary school, how did they get there? Are they legal ballots which were thrown out for being cast for the wrong party? Or were they planted to bolster the numbers of a losing candidate?
Politicians are aware of the problem. Unfortunately, the only tool at their disposal is the creation of new laws. The number of election-related bills is on the rise; especially bills addressing election audits. Perhaps the most widely reported recount of the 2020 general election occurred in Maricopa County, AZ. The recount began on April 22, 2021 and lasted 5 months. The total cost was reported to be nearly $9 million. Despite the investment the results are still in dispute. Even worse: due to concerns over hardware tampering Maricopa County will spend nearly $3 million to replace equipment involved in the audit.
The extreme costs of recounts usually results in them not being done. But even when recounts are done the results are rarely satisfactory for all parties involved. The problem lies in the lack of verifiable proof in the chain of custody for electoral ballots. The issue isn't a legal one. The issue is scientific. Laws alone cannot solve this problem. We need an entirely new way of conducting our elections: one with chain-of-custody and mathematical proof baked in to the method itself.
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