'Huge potential for human error' Voter concerned about Williamson County's switch to hand-marked ballots for November'

[RandySF]

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas — Changes are on the way for Williamson County voters.

In the past, voters electronically picked their choices and placed their ballots in a scanner. Now, they will be given a pen and ballots with the political races and will "hand-mark each race."

Bridgette Escobedo is Williamson County's Elections Administrator and walked KVUE through the new process. A voter will enter the polling location, get checked into the electronic poll book and then receive a ballot, on which they will hand-write their choices, then place it into a scanner.

"I don't foresee any issues. We are still scanning our ballots the same way we did before, so the results will be tallied in the same method," Escobedo said.


https://www.kvue.com/article/news/politics/vote-texas/williamson-county-handmarked-ballots-november/269-bda89715-b8a8-4fec-a816-1c3f3bbd1ffb

[HelpImSurrounded]

1. Paper ballots are the only safe way

Paper ballots are auditable. Fully electronic means are not.

In my county we have a screen to make our choices that prints out a human readable paper ballot that we then walk to the scanner.

This gives us the speed and reliability of voting machines with an auditable paper trail. Williamson County is a step down from that because humans can make errors in marking so it depends on what precise marking method they are using.

While humans may make errors, the audit will reveal that. But without paper there is no audit.