Is this a problem or not? Currently, recounts of close elections in California are so expensive that they are out of reach for all but the ultra-wealthy and deep-pocketed special interests.
The sharp increase in costs is due to recent changes in state election laws and regulations. In 2019, then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla decertified all old voting equipment in California and removed the certification of all old voting equipment in California, a system that uses optical scanning of mail-in ballots and counts encoded data on ballots cast with touchscreen ballot marking devices. All counties are required to use it.
Previously, voting cards were marked by voters with stipple marks or punchouts. These cards were tabulated by machines but were human readable.
In theory, it is still possible for humans to count paper ballots, but the cost has become prohibitive. The county no longer sorts incoming ballots by precinct. Regardless of whether a voter returns a mail-in ballot or votes in person, paper ballots are stored in unsorted “batches.” Good luck if you ever want to see them again.
Two races in Ventura County were close in the November election. Ventura County Community College District board seats were determined by seven votes out of 76,100 votes counted. The Fillmore City Council seat was determined by two votes out of 1,270 votes cast.
The Ventura County Star reported that the recount in the municipal election cost $27,500 to manually recount 1,270 paper ballots. The county offered a cheaper method of viewing and recounting optical scans on a computer monitor. Its cost was $23,600.
The City Council recount requester refused to proceed with the recount.
In California, there is no automatic recount even if the election ends in a tie. Anyone can request a recount, but requesters must pay the cost upfront each day.
The cost of recounting the 76,100 votes in the community college race is estimated at $61,500. The county estimated that “preparatory work,” including finding the precinct’s ballots among 6,200 “bundles” from across the county, would take four to six days and cost $53,600. In that case, counting votes would cost about $7,900 per day.
The client refused to proceed.
This is typical now. The 2022 Ojai mayoral election recount cost $27,700. Only 3,600 votes were cast. In 2020, the Long Beach Reform Coalition called for a recount of a ballot measure that permanently extended the city sales tax. Approximately 100,000 ballots needed to be recounted. The cost of counting the optical scans was estimated to be approximately $200,000. LBRC paid for a partial recount of about 7,000 votes, but in the process discovered several instances of discrepancies between what the machines counted and what the human eye saw on the ballots. Technology isn’t perfect.
The state cited the fact that the long-standing method of vote tabulation verification, which involves manually counting ballots in 1% of precincts, is no longer possible because ballots are not sorted or stored by precinct. , changed the law to paper. The new law allows counties to manually tally “batches.” However, precinct vote totals are part of the public record. “Batch” totals are not.
Is this something important?
Of course it is. All computer systems are vulnerable to the introduction of malicious code or simple programming errors. By making recounts impossible, California is sending a clear message to ordinary voters: “Shut up and trust us.”
Only wealthy individuals and those with special interests can afford to check the vote count. That’s what happened in the 16th Congressional District, where two candidates tied for second place in the March 5 “Top 2” primary. Three candidates were scheduled to run in the general election, but a then-undisclosed donor (later revealed to be a San Jose technology entrepreneur) paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for a recount, and the candidates One of them lost the election by a few votes.
Every election is important, whether it’s federal or local government, whether it’s an initiative, a tax increase, or a law change.
Congress should require counties to separate and store ballots by precinct. You have to earn their trust.
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