Here’s what SC does to keep election voting accurate
It’s Election Day once again and South Carolina has multiple safeguards in place to ensure voting results are accurate.
The American electoral system has been questioned and challenged in recent years. However, the State Election Commission says the election system’s “fortified security checks, balances and redundancies ensure security. Accuracy and accessibility in which every citizen and voter in South Carolina can have faith and trust.”
How can I trust the accuracy of election results?
South Carolina has a statewide, paper-based voting system featuring ballot-marking devices (BMDs) and scanners for in-person voting and hand-marked paper ballots for absentee voting, the SEC states. Using BMDs helps make voting more accessible and creates a paper record of every ballot cast. Ballots scanned at polling places are automatically fed into a locked and sealed ballot box below the scanner.
The SEC works with the Department of Homeland Security to regularly assess the security of each location in all 46 counties to identify potential vulnerabilities and improve security, the election commission states. County election offices keep detailed logs of where voting equipment is stored along with information about who, when and where someone may have accessed a storage facility. Also, the voting system is never connected to the internet.
Election transparency:
The public and media can observe the election process at polling places from opening of the polls to closing of the polls and vote tabulation.
Candidates and political parties can appoint poll watchers to observe at polling places.
The public and media can observe the return of ballots and equipment and tabulation of votes on election night.
Before elections begin:
Logic and accuracy tests are publicly performed to show the voting system is counting ballots accurately. Tests use pre-marked ballots so everyone knows the expected outcome.
Voting equipment is protected through a system of locks, security seals and chain-of-custody logs.
No single person performs these procedures. The public is allowed to observe as equipment is prepared for elections.
BMDs and scanners are locked and sealed before being taken to polling places and seals are verified by poll managers before polls are opened.
How does South Carolina count ballots?
According to the Election Commission, it requires hand-count audits to be conducted in all counties before certification of any federal or state-level election. Voters verify their votes on their paper ballot before casting it. The hand-count audit is designed to ensure the votes recorded by the scanners match what was verified by the voters.
In a hand-count audit:
Precincts and offices are selected for the audit by the SEC for each county in federal and state-level elections. Local election officials select the precincts and offices for local elections.
Election officials publicly open the ballot box for the selected precinct(s) and hand count the votes for the selected office on the voter-verified paper ballots.
Results verification audits:
A results-verification audit is an independent, automated audit that relies solely on the use of independent software to tabulate ballot images. Those results are then compared to those from the voting system.
