Paper ballots are considered the gold standard of vote counting. Three states in the U.S. use them, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington. Other states claim to use them, but they are not reliable. Some just issue receipts repeating what the voter intended, but offering no guarantee that is what is recorded. Quite a few states offer nothing, just a smile and thank you to the voter, no assurance at all that the vote was even recorded, much less counted.

In the three states mentioned, voters hand-enter their choices on ballots, and the ballots are then run through optical scanners to tally the vote. It is not fool proof, as the scanning software can be corrupt, but the ballots are stored under lock and key for at least 22 months for recounts and perhaps study or statistical sampling. I think that 22 months storage is the law.

Continue reading “Election oddity” →

My background is in accounting, though thankfully I am retired now for several years. A trait accounting shares with many other professions is a system of control that weeds out corruption and shady players. In accounting, it is called “internal control.”

The election in Maricopa County, Arizona, was chaos. The problem, we are told, is with the machines, not the people.

In school I learned that any accounting system that depends on the integrity of the people who run it is an ineffective system. That is not a slam on humanity, even as it sounds like one. The idea behind effective accounting administration is to devise a self-regulating system, and to audit it often, at least yearly. One means by which self-regulation is achieved (imperfectly, of course) is by means to separation of duties. The person who opens the mail does not record checks, and yet another person deposits those checks. The idea is that it is far less likely to achieve fraud if more than one person is involved.

Continue reading “How to commit election fraud: Maricopa County example” →

I am cursing myself now for (only somewhat) buying in to the election nonsense.

There once was (and it is still running old strips) a cartoon strip called Peanuts, featuring Charlie Brown, a hopeless loser with a good heart. Each year his pal Lucy would offer to hold a football for him to kick. She had to talk him into it, as in every year prior at the last moment she would pull the football, as seen above. That’s me, thinking that while we nominally have two major political parties, we really have but one. The purpose of the “other” party, no matter your alignment, is to prevent the rise of a true second party.

Continue reading “My Bad” →