ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE: State OKs cost-effective nod to election security

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Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb made Secretary of State Holli Sullivan’s only priority of the recently concluded legislative session a reality, signing into law House Enrolled Act 1116 despite opposition from Hoosier voting-rights organizations.

Members of the House voted 95-0 on March 7 to concur with Senate changes to House Bill 1116, a proposal for improving the state’s “election integrity.” It hit the governor’s desk Monday, and he added his signature that same day.

HEA 1116 mandates that Hoosier voters provide either their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number when requesting an absentee ballot online. It also moves up the date by which counties must outfit all paperless voting machines with small printers.

About two-thirds of the state’s 92 counties employ touch-screen, paperless voting machines, according to the secretary of state’s office. That includes several of Indiana’s largest counties, such as Allen. The state began paying for counties to add printers to paperless voting machines in 2019, but had allowed them to stay in use through 2029.

HEA 1116 moves the 2029 deadline to July 1, 2024, though the Indiana League of Women Voters, Indiana Vote by Mail and other voting rights advocates say the state should stop the use of all electronic voting machines and order all counties to use paper ballots that voters mark before they are scanned for counting, the Associated Press reported.

During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Feb. 24, Barbara Tully of Indiana Vote by Mail testified in opposition to the “voter verified paper audit trail.” She said the printers’ thermal paper can smudge easily and is difficult to use in an election audit.

“Let’s just go back to the basics, and go to hand-marked paper ballots,” Tully said. “It makes the most sense. It’s the cheapest thing to do and it’s the thing that’s going to make our elections in Indiana trusted by voters and restore confidence.”

Rep. Curt Nisly, R-Milford, even called for a return to paper ballots from the House floor. He offered an amendment to scrap the use of electronic voting machines for two years, and use paper ballots statewide while election officials determine the most secure way for Hoosiers to vote. His amendment was defeated.

It’s still unclear how much it will cost to add printers to thousands of electronic voting machines across the state. A legislative staff analysis earlier in the session estimated the price tag at about $13 million. House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, however, called adding the printers “an important public policy” and HEA 1116 states the voting machine attachments will be paid for with federal or state funds.

Indiana is one of just a handful of states with widespread use of paperless voting machines, according to the nonprofit Verified Voting, which also objected to the state’s thermal printer proposal.

And election security experts have advocated for the adoption of paper-based voting systems nationwide for years, saying they are less vulnerable to manipulation and election workers can use those records to audit results.

In close races in which the victor wins by a margin of less than 1% of the total vote, an audit is essential. A paper trail of counted ballots would provide election workers needed backup to the electronic total.

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