Ohio Election Officials Warn Against Returning to Hand-Counted Ballots
Cleveland, OH – Concerns are rising over a push to abandon electronic voting machines in Ohio, with election experts warning a return to hand-counting ballots would be slower, less accurate, and undermine faith in the state’s election system. The debate comes as some politicians question the reliability of current voting technology.laura Johnston, a content director at cleveland.com, highlighted the fallibility of human counting with a personal example: “I’m not an idiot.I took all the hardest math classes, I took calculus and I still can’t add up Girl Scout cookie orders correctly every time. So, the idea of hand counting ballots is absurd.”
Historically, hand-counting ballots proved problematic, leading to the implementation of machines to expedite the process and improve accuracy. Election results often took days to finalize under the previous system,a stark contrast to the speed offered by modern technology.
According to a recent discussion on the “Today in Ohio” podcast,the movement to revert to hand-counting aligns with a broader effort to cast doubt on the integrity of U.S. elections. As podcast host Chris Quinn noted, ”This is just part of that effort Donald Trump has been making for a decade to undermine our faith in the best election system in the world.”
Current election procedures already include safeguards, such as paper backups for hand-counting in close or contested races. Moreover, voting machines undergo rigorous testing and certification processes. Experts argue that abandoning thes machines isn’t about enhancing security, but rather about creating distrust in a system that has consistently demonstrated its reliability.
The central question, as posed in the article, is why some politicians are actively working to erode public confidence in technologies that have made elections more accurate, accessible, and efficient.
Listeners can access the full “Today in Ohio” podcast discussion here. Full episodes featuring Chris Quinn, Lisa garvin, Leila Atassi, and Laura johnston are available here.
Note: This rewrite maintains all factual details from the original article, including names, quotes, links, and the core argument. It has been re-written for clarity and a breaking-news style lead.