Oct 13, 2022 3 min read

I am upset at the calls to return to paper ballots. I worked the polls for about 20 years starting in 1973 and retiring about 1993, and also twice in the late 2010s. I worked every primary and general election during this time, except for Nov. 8, 1983. That was the day my father died, and I did not vote or work that day.

The paper ballot system SEEMS safe, but I know of at least one reported case of an election worker using a ring or other item to deliberately spoil ballots. This was reported nationally, and I do not remember where or when it happened. The system in Pennsylvania includes an elected Judge of Elections and two elected inspectors, a Republican and a Democrat. Each inspector hires a clerk. So there are five members of an election board – three of one party, two of another. In the days of paper ballots, the election board arrived before the polls opened and stayed until all the ballots had been counted. 

The official system for counting paper ballots was as follows. The Judge of Elections would open the ballot box and remove a ballot. They would read out the votes for each office and the four others would record hash marks. When all ballots had been read, the four would total the hash marks. If the four totals did not match, which would happen with tired people trying to keep track of hash marks, the whole process had to be repeated until there was agreement.

I confess that I never experienced this. East Washington, and after the split of the borough East Washington 1, used a different system, agreed on by all five workers, one which was not legal. The ballots were dumped on the table and each worker took some and tallied the votes on those ballots. The totals were then added. I would be willing to bet a substantial sum that if any of our ballot boxes were opened for a recount the total would have been different.

All of the election board was glad when the punch card system was adopted. All we had to count were the write-in votes. Later, of course, we all learned about chads.

We never had the old-fashioned voting machines, so I cannot speak to their accuracy, but I did work twice on the old electronic voting machines in the late 2010s. I never liked them, because there was no way to be sure that they were correctly counting votes. We all have experienced computer glitches and these machines could not be 100% accurate all the time. I did see that the Judge of Elections ran each machine before the polls opened to verify that there were no votes registered before voting began, but there was no paper back-up.

I was elated when the county started using machines that printed out one’s vote so that the voter could review it and place it in a ballot box. That meant that I knew my vote was correct and could be checked in any recount. Machines with a paper back-up are the most safe and secure method of voting which I have personally experienced. I may not like the results of an election, but at least I know that it is an accurate reflection of the will of the people who voted.

Susan Priest

Washington