When Trump lost the elections in 2020, he gripped the false claim that the elections were supported by fraud that was widespread and combined.
to tackle the situation, he has made a tack in which, the U.S. should switch to paper ballots, require proof of citizenship if wants to vote, voters should bring ID cards to the polls to vote and also eliminate mail-in voting by holding entire elections in person.
Policymakers can discuss the consequences of requiring ID and citizenship from voters, additionally, mail-in voting, which is popular among both democrats and republicans.
but voting experts and election officials are confused about the fact that they already use paper ballots, then What Trump is talking about, is’
The Facts: Trump’s call for the U.S. to switch to “paper ballots” does not make sense. According to data from Verified Voting, a group that tracks election equipment, over 98% of voters are in areas that provide fully auditable paper trails.
Trump frequently mentions his four-part proposal regarding election integrity, and he has brought up the “paper ballots” claim many times this year.
At an August rally in Potterville, Michigan, Trump said, “We’re going to fix our elections so that our elections are going to be honorable and honest, and people leave, and they know their vote is counted. We are going to have free and fair elections. Ideally, we go to paper ballots, same-day voting, proof of citizenship, very big and voter ID.
In a recent interview, Trump suggested that one way to address mass fraud is to “go to paper ballots.” He repeated this at rallies in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and Montezuma Pass, Arizona.
Verified Voting, a nonpartisan organization, has been advocating for counties to move away from paperless voting in favor of in-person polling sites for the past two decades. Vote-by-mail, which many people use, also creates a paper trail. The leaders of this group say they have achieved their goal, despite claims from Trump and others that the U.S. still needs paper ballots.
Mark Lindeman, the group’s director for policy and strategy, stated, “It’s really weird and I don’t understand it. Almost everybody votes on paper ballots. Anyone who thinks we need paper ballots is probably voting on paper themselves.”
Only about 1.4% of registered voters live in areas without a paper trail for in-person voting, based on Verified Voting’s data. These areas include the entire state of Louisiana and a few counties in Texas. For everyone else, there are paper trails that can be checked during post-election audits or recounts.
Nearly 70% of registered voters are in counties where they physically mark their choices on paper ballots. Another 25% of voters are in counties using “ballot-marking devices,” where they select their candidates on a touchscreen, and the machine then fills out a paper ballot to show their choices. The remaining 5% use electronic machines that store votes directly in computer memory, but even most of these now create paper trails as well. The counties in Texas and the state of Louisiana are the only exceptions that only save votes in computer memory.
The number of voters in “paperless” counties has been steadily decreasing with each election cycle over the past 20 years, according to Verified Voting.
Sherry Poland, the elections director in Hamilton County, Ohio, which includes Cincinnati, mentioned that her county switched to hand-marked paper ballots in 2006. This system creates a “backup” and “redundancy” that helps build confidence in the election process.
Poland, a Republican, noted, “The trend is coming back now, and everyone is realizing the value of having a paper trail.” After the 2016 election, states like Pennsylvania and Georgia moved away from paperless machines and now use systems with paper trails. Since 2020, Tennessee and many counties in New Jersey, Texas, and Mississippi have made similar changes.
False claims about election procedures have negatively affected how voters view the integrity of U.S. elections, especially among Republicans.
Recent CNN polling shows that many Trump supporters in Michigan, Arizona, and Pennsylvania are now “not at all confident” or only “just a little” confident that the results will be counted accurately in their states. Additionally, one in five Trump supporters in a recent ABC/Ipsos poll said they are not ready to accept the election results.
Twenty years ago, Verified Voting was founded to eliminate paperless voting machines,” Lindeman said. “Now we’re nearly there, and we’re wondering why everyone isn’t happier. We’ve achieved something incredible together as a country.
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