Did My Vote Count?
Until Pennsylvania requires voter-marked paper ballots to be scanned by electronic voting systems we will not know if our votes are counted accurately, because most PA elections are unable to be independently audited or recounted. Elections are the foundation of our democracy. As citizens, we have a right to a secure accurate election system with results that can be verified. You can help make this happen by joining Citizens for Better Elections! We are working in coalition with groups across Pennsylvania to ensure secure, accurate and verifiable elections statewide.
What is the Problem?
Pennsylvania is a swing state that could determine the winner of a Presidential election, yet most of our voting machines are at the end of their usable lifespans, incapable of being audited, and vulnerable to hacking. Because most PA voters vote on machines with no paper record of our vote, there is no way to be sure that your vote was recorded accurately. Hackers know elections can be hacked. Top computer science experts know Pennsylvania’s elections are vulnerable to hacking. Now that Russia has attempted to influence elections in the United States and other countries, we cannot allow our election system to remain insecure and unverifiable. Hand-marked paper ballots are a necessary check and balance to audit for machine error, calibration error, and hacking. It is disturbing to learn that elections, the foundation of our democracy, may be the least secure part of our government.
What is the Solution?
Pennsylvania needs to catch up. Many states have switched to paper ballots for accuracy and security, yet more than 80% of PA voters still have to vote without a paper ballot . Most of Pennsylvania’s voting machines are at least 10 years old and nearing the end of their useful life. The good news is that your support of this work has made a difference! With your help and the help of many allies, Citizens for Better Elections made our case to the Montgomery County Commissioners. To their great credit, they listened. They did their homework and recognized that new voting machines are a top priority. We are happy to report that in February 2018, the County Commissioners publicly announced that the county will be purchasing new voting machines in 2018. Montgomery County has the third largest number of registered voters in Pennsylvania, so over 550,000 registered voters will soon vote on secure, accurate, and verifiable voting machines. There is still much work to do before this becomes a reality, so SIGN UP for action alerts and get involved.
Citizens for Better Elections also worked in coalition with several groups to make calls and send emails/letters to Governor Wolf regarding the importance of new voting machines, which scan voter-marked paper ballots. We are happy to announce that in February 2018, the Wolf administration required that newly purchased voting systems in Pennsylvania must provide a paper record in order to improve the “security and auditability” of Pennsylvania’s elections. This victory was the result of hard work by many groups at the county, state, and national level. Most counties still cannot afford to purchase the new machines without state funding assistance, so there is still work to do. JOIN US and make new secure, verifiable voting systems a reality.
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The header image for this site is a photograph by Justin Grimes, licensed under the Creative Commons by-sa license. We use it with gratitude.