WHEREAS, Election experts agree that the most resilient voting systems use paper ballots, either mark
ed by hand or with an assistive device, and are verified by the voter before any means of tabulation;
Tabulation is an issue as well since many voters don’t trust the black box nature of tabulators. In SC, Article II section 1 of our constitution states that our votes shall be cast in secret but not counted in secret. The tabulators count in SECRET. Thus, hand-counting must be part of a redesign of the process.
Did you know….that in South Carolina we don’t technically have a paper ballot system that the voter can verify?
RESOLVED, The Republican National Committee boldly opposes means of voting that do not have the proper safeguards in place and are exclusively electronic and calls on every county and state in the nation to use as the default ballot systems, which are fully auditable, namely hand-marked, voter-verified paper ballots to ensure every voter is memorialized by a paper record;
Our system in South Carolina is complex, and while it states that it is a “paper ballot” system that the voter can verify, this is simply not true. The system is not a paper ballot –it is a “coded ballot” that has barcodes at the top of the paper that the voter has no way of verifying that these codes in fact are accurate and reflect their choices. Although their choices are also printed in text, they can’t confirm that the barcodes correlate with those selections. Furthermore, in SC, Article II section 1 of our constitution states that our votes shall be cast in secret but not counted in secret. Our tabulators count in SECRET.
Problem: The bottom line is that we don’t have a voter verified paper ballot system and audits are inadequate.
Our system instead uses coded ballots. We have no idea how to interpret those codes once our finished ballot is printed out without a barcode reader. Thus, our system is NOT auditable or voter verifiable.
Solution: Hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots that are fully auditable.
Bill 4259 addresses this in section 7-13-1180 which allows for hand count audits in five contested races in at least 3 precincts randomly selected and 7-13-1190 post-election audits or forensic audits by party chair or counties.
Bill 4260 establishes a pilot program for 2024 for at least 3 counties to cast votes on hand-marked paper ballots counted by hand. Ideally, at the minimum, we should allow the voter the option of a paper ballot.
Bill 4261 addresses this in section 7-3-35 as it provides for adequate audit records and verification—via publicly available Cast Vote Records and/or ballot images. Bill 3162 amends the SC code by adding Section 1625 to provide that any voting system purchased for use in South Carolina must utilize hand-marked paper ballots counted by hand