‘Voter-Verifiable, Paper-Backed’: GOP States Eye Upgrade to Outdated Voting Machines

After Joe Biden’s triumph in the November 2020 elections, ex-president Donald Trump alleged that victory had been “stolen” from him via manipulations involving electronic Dominion voting machines, as well as mail-in ballots in key swing states. However, state courts threw out his complaints, citing a lack of evidence.

A GOP bill is currently gaining traction to set in place a 2024 deadline for Tennessee to join the majority of states that already have voting machines that include a paper record of every ballot cast.

The obligatory “paper mandate” would ensure that any disputed results can be verified.

GOP Gov. Bill Lee has proposed $15 million to install voter-verifiable and paper-backed equipment, as almost two-thirds of the state’s 95 counties do not offer any paper record.

Some US voters waited for hours to cast their ballots due to long lines and defective voting machines at polling stations.

© Photo : Jaclyn O'Laughlin

A similar push is being made in some of the five other, predominantly Republican-led, states that have yet failed to upgrade their voting system with a paper record. Mississippi and Indiana intend to achieve the upgrade by the 2024 presidential election.

In 2021, lawmakers in Texas passed a law requiring paper records by 2026 in a move that Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick touted as designed to rebuild trust in elections.

The process has been somewhat slower in two states — Democratic-led New Jersey, and Louisiana. The latter has a Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards, and a Republican-led Legislature, possibly resulting in process issues or funding, according to the outlet.

"Across the partisan spectrum, there is some sense that the controversy around 2020 underscores how important it is to have paper records of voter intent that we can go back to,” Mark Lindeman, director of Verified Voting was cited as saying. The group tracks voting equipment used across US states.

About 5 percent of ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election did not have a paper record, down from about 18 percent in 2016, according to American federal officials.

The move comes as some GOP voters remain distrustful of voting machines, which were previously slammed by ex-president Donald Trump. The 45th POTUS, who has repeatedly claimed the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from him, had suggested electronic Dominion voting machines had been manipulated, via the voting software. Technology firm Dominion Voting System had rejected the accusations.

Trump also blamed the mail-in ballots in key swing states such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. However, despite a plethora of irregularities manifest throughout the election process in 2020, all efforts to provide solid proof fell through.

State and federal judges dismissed more than 50 lawsuits brought by Trump and his allies alleging voter fraud and other irregularities during last year’s election.

Now, the voting system upgrade is being touted as a way to dodge costly and time-consuming partisan ballot reviews and calls to abandon voting machines altogether.

About 68 percent of US-registered voters will mark ballots by hand for the 2022 midterm elections. The remainder will resort to touchscreen voting machines, said Verified Voting.