–submitted by Sharyn Alden
It’s a big job to stay on top of election security, but Madison, along with the state of Wisconsin, has multiple safeguards to prevent election fraud. Wisconsin has 1800 election administrators, and Madison has 4,000 poll workers ready for the November elections.
Witzel-Behl pointed out we have a paper-based voting system. That means it’s imperative to keep elections safe and make sure each person’s vote is counted.
Some of the Safeguards:
- The system is designed so you can’t vote twice, deliberately or accidentally. On an absentee ballot, the barcode prohibits from using the same ballot more than once.
- At the polls, a continual tabulation reconciles the number of people who have registered to vote in-person with the number of votes that are continually being counted.
If you’ve wondered about the security of ballot drop boxes, Witzel-Behl said they are ’tamper proof.”
So where do Dane County ballots go after the voting ends? They are delivered in locked cages to the Madison City Clerk’s office, where the numbers are certified. After that, the State of Wisconsin is required to sign off every vote and certify all the results. Once verified, the results are available online.
If you missed this week’s meeting, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/1QWrjJJvr5Y.
Rotary Club of Madison, Wisconsin 