Michigan's elections are safe, fair and secure
Done again. One more time. I’ve spent 60-plus years voting in line. It’s finally gotten easy. My aching knees are thankful.
I check the ballot, sign and date the envelope’s front, stick on the stamp and hand it over to our friendly neighborhood postman. Last election and now this one, voting’s safe and secure. In spite of all the fuss, Michigan’s recent election has been demonstrated to be accurate and secure — even in several studies done by Republicans.
But I did wonder: my ballot in the mail, your ballot in the dropbox or in person — how secure are our votes? So I did a little research and checked with the Monroe County clerk. Here’s what I found:
I can track my ballot online just like I track the Christmas gifts I send my family. When it arrives, it’s checked and my address verified against a list of all registered voters. Local clerks will check my signature against one on file when ballots are counted on Election Day. My son who works overseas can vote from there; my friend’s daughter in the Navy can vote from where she is: all our ballots will be checked against voter registration lists. It’s the same for dropbox ballots. If I get forgetful in my “elder years” and walk in to vote in person, records will show I already voted absentee — and that’s it. One person, one vote.
No zombie voters. My grandpa won’t be voting. My suffragette grandmother couldn’t. Period. I vote in her memory now.
I found out that on Election Day, in-person voters’ identifications are checked and signatures are also verified. Trained workers from both major parties are on duty at each polling place, and voters slide ballots through a reader, where it is tallied and kept as a paper ballot too — a redundant system which creates a physical record.
All voting machines in this state are carefully secured and are NOT connected to the internet. These tabulators are kept in locked areas; seals placed on them from pre-election testing are verified over and over again on Election Day. Only authorized workers from both parties handle the tallies and the paper ballots. These paid workers have applied for the job, been trained and certified. Seems pretty secure to me. I remember from when I voted in person, these workers were both friendly and professional.
Authorized challengers are permitted as viewers only, but can’t touch election materials or approach voters. A challenger must behave with decorum and may not challenge a voter without good reason. These challengers must respect the voters and cannot be unruly and cannot threaten to unplug voting machines.
They probably can bring garlic, though, to ward off any zombies.
After polls close, sealed paper ballots containers and tabulators are transported by co-chairs of each precinct to their clerk’s office at their city or township. Paper ballots are kept secure and used as a fail-safe. The actual vote is tabulated after elections close; this can take several days. Electronic totals are compared to paper ballot totals. Bipartisan boards of canvassers compare the physical tabulation records to the unofficial results. Any errors can be — and are — corrected before certification.
Michigan has a safe, fair, honest and easy voting system which will be protected and enhanced if voters pass the new amendment which was supported across the state by a dedicated group of signature gatherers. It will also make sure safe elections are fully funded. If it passes, my knees will be so thankful!
My suffragette grandma could’t vote for most of her adult life. Even recently, for me, voting was a chore, a time drain, a lost-working-hours duty. It was difficult for the elderly and the disabled and for those serving in the military overseas.
I think my grandma will celebrate among the stars when this amendment passes. Voting should be easy for everyone; it is our foundational freedom and responsibility.
Sharon Kourous is a member of Stronger Together Huddle, a group engaged in supporting and promoting the common good of all. She is a retired English teacher from Monroe.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Sharon Kourous: Michigan's elections are safe, fair and secure
