Paper Trail Absence May Still Plague 2020 Election

While Florida might be a "laughingstock", according to a Federal judge ruling on the 2018 election re-count, at least the state had a paper trail to fall back on for that process. The same may not be true for as many as 6 states in the 2020 election, according to an article published today in the Washington Post.

Texas, Indiana, Tennessee, Kansas, Mississippi, and Kentucky are likely to be without paper ballots in all or some of their counties by the time of the next election, according to the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. While some had hoped that Federal money would be available to make the change, the Secure Elections Act, proposed in the aftermath of the 2016 election, is now mired in controversy and unlikely to be taken up by the lame duck congress.

No security breaches of voting machines have been alleged for the 2018 elections, but many security experts continue to push for paper ballots as a back-stop to possibly hacked systems. Since the responsibility for choosing the election mechanism falls to the states, and in many cases, counties within the states, it seems unlikely that there will be a nation-wide security standard for the foreseeable future.

For more, read here.

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