By Emily Bader for The Maine Monitor.
Broadcast version by Kathryn Carley for Maine News Service reporting for the Rural News Network-Public News Service Collaboration

When polls close at 8 p.m. on Nov. 5, six trained election clerks in New Vineyard, a town of about 700 in Franklin County, will start counting ballots by hand. There are 13 questions on New Vineyard voters' ballots: eight races for county, state and federal positions and five state referendum questions. Each of these votes will have to be tallied independently - not once, but twice.

Election clerks will divide into groups of two (generally one Democrat and one Republican), and each group will count batches of 50 ballots at a time. Working concurrently, the two clerks will review the same ballot and state aloud the race or question and the choice - "State Senate, Jane Doe; Question 1, Yes" - and each will record the voter's selection on their individual tally sheets.

As each batch of ballots is completed, the teams will compare their tally sheets to ensure that they match. If they don't, the team has to recount the race or question that was off. Once everything is settled, the clerks sign the certification on the tally sheets and one sheet goes to the warden and the other stays bundled with the ballots.

Michelle Beedy, New Vineyard's town clerk, said she would like to get voting tabulation equipment, such as the hand-fed optical scanners the majority of Maine municipalities use to count ballots.

"It just would make counting a lot easier," Beedy said. "There's a lot to counting those ballots."

But the town enjoys its traditions, hauling out an old-fashioned wooden ballot box for each election.

New Vineyard is one of 150 towns, or about a third of all voting jurisdictions in Maine, that counts ballots by hand. Each of the towns has fewer than 750 registered voters, though the average number of voters among the towns is much lower, at 251.

In Maine, unlike most of the country, elections are run by municipalities. Nationwide, elections for 90 percent of registered voters are run at the county level. Only half of a percentage of those voters' ballots are exclusively hand counted. By contrast, Maine jurisdictions that hand count ballots represent 4 percent of registered voters, or about 37,000 people.

(Not all Maine voters' polling places are in the same jurisdiction as where they're registered to vote, especially in unorganized territories. The 241 registered voters from Connor Township in Aroostook County, for example, will go to Caribou to vote in the upcoming election.)

Maine's other 330 cities and towns use devices called hand-fed optical scanners, which scan hand-marked paper ballots and tabulate the votes cast, storing the data on a memory stick-like device. If something on the ballot is incorrect or unclear, like too many choices filled in for a single race or a partially filled in bubble, an alert displays on the screen and offers to return the ballot for correction.

Since 2012, Maine has had a contract with the company Election Systems & Software, which makes optical scanners. Municipalities can opt in to receiving the DS200 ballot scanning device at no cost to them, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows told The Monitor.

In the 12 years since Maine entered into that contract, the number of cities and towns that opt to hand count has gone down significantly: in 2012, only about one-third of towns used a hand-fed optical scanner to tabulate their ballots, while the remaining two-thirds hand counted.

More than 2,300 voting jurisdictions from 39 states or territories, including Maine, use this particular make and model of ballot scanning device, according to Verified Voting, a nonpartisan organization that researches the use of technology in elections.

Per state law, it is up to municipalities to decide if they want to use state-approved tabulation equipment, which besides hand counting is the only other state-approved tabulation method. Bellows said her office strongly suggests large municipalities do so.

"The data demonstrates that hand counting increases the possibility of human error, and it takes a lot longer to count ballots when you're doing it by hand," Bellows said.

A peer-reviewed study published in the Election Law Journal compared the election night hand count and the statewide recount for two Wisconsin elections and found that vote counts done by scanning devices were more accurate on average than those tallied by hand.

Bellows referred to other reports on elections in New Hampshire and Nevada that found hand counting to have much higher error rates than scanners.

But she gets why small towns like New Vineyard stick to hand counting.

"We understand that they prefer the old-fashioned hand count, recognizing that it's really important that they be as scrupulous as possible in ensuring the accuracy of that count," she said.

GOP lawmakers and supporters in some states have made a push to go back to hand counting ballots, including in New Hampshire where Trump ally and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, peddling unfounded conspiracy theories of fraud related to voting tabulation devices, like optical scanners, helped orchestrate a campaign to get rid of them earlier this year.

But Pam Smith, the president and CEO of Verified Voting, said the number of voting jurisdictions that have gotten rid of their equipment in favor of hand counting remains small nationwide. In New Hampshire, the effort failed - just one small town voted to ban voting machines, and the decision is unlikely to stand.

Smith said the DS200 optical scanners used across the state are secure and accurate, particularly because all Maine jurisdictions, regardless of how they tabulate votes, use hand-marked paper ballots. This ensures there is a paper trail in case of a recount or audit. (A law allowing the Secretary of State to conduct post-election audits goes into effect on Jan. 1.)

"It's important to have that evidence because then you can use it," Smith said. "If your system was purely electronic and there was no separate record that the voter could see and confirm, then you don't have that same benefit and that equipment is not securable in the same way that a scanner is."

All but 1.4 percent of voters in the U.S. will have a paper record of their votes in the upcoming election, including hand- or device-marked paper ballots or receipt-like print-outs called Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails.

All Maine jurisdictions also have ballot-marking devices called ExpressVote from the same manufacturer that makes the optical scanners, which allow people with disabilities to vote "privately and independently," according to Verified Voting's equipment database.

The device generates a printed ballot when the voter is finished, which is then tabulated by a scanner or by hand. (Some Maine voters with disabilities also have the option to vote absentee via a secure online portal.)

Smith said the security and accuracy of hand counted ballots depends on how many voters there are: the larger a jurisdiction gets, the more difficult it is to "cautiously and carefully" tabulate votes in a timely manner. And the larger the jurisdiction, the more expensive and time-intensive the process - a point Bellows echoed.

"Mainers are accustomed to receiving results on election night, and the tabulators advance the speed of the results as well as the accuracy," Bellows said.

Beedy, New Vineyard's town clerk, said she'll have two election clerks counting absentee ballots throughout the day, and four more clerks counting ballots cast on election day once the polls close. Each clerk is paid minimum wage, $14.15 an hour. Beedy and the election warden will be there the entire time. It will cost the town - which only has about 530 registered voters - about $700 for just the six election clerks and more than 14 hours to count every vote.

"We're responsible for every single ballot," she said. "You miss one number and your whole tally sheet is off. So you could be back trying to find one ballot out of 800."

Beedy figures the election clerks will be counting until at least 11 p.m.

"If all goes well," she said.


This story was originally produced byEmily Bader of The Maine Monitor as part of the Rural News Network, an initiative of the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), supporting more than 475 independent, nonprofit news organizations.


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By Kyla Russell for WISH-TV.
Broadcast version by Joe Ulery for Indiana News Service reporting for the WISH-TV-Free Press Indiana-Public News Service Collaboration

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith said he supports efforts to redistrict Indiana's U.S. House seats, and he's seen what could be redrawn maps floating around, but has not seen any official maps.

He shared his thoughts on Friday in a one-on-one interview with I-Team 8.

"People want to scream about gerrymandering. Listen, every state does it. Democrats do it. Republicans do it. I think what Republicans have kind of fallen into the trap of doing for many years in the establishment way of thinking is if we just play nice, they'll play nice, if and when they're in power. We found out that that doesn't happen. So, listen, we've got the ball. We need to run the ball down the field, and we should do everything we can to make big wins for Republican principles, constitutional concepts and I believe ... the Republican Party embodies those principles better than the other party does. So, I'm fully in support of President Trump and his offensive-minded strategy here."

Beckwith told I-Team 8 he does not know exactly what happened on Thursday in a closed-door meeting at the Statehouse with Vice President JD Vance, Gov. Mike Braun and other top state lawmakers.

However, Beckwith said, he is aware of the taxpayer cost to calling a special session.

He says it's worth it.

"I think in the long run, if we can get the outcome that we're looking for, I think it will be certainly we're going to have to spend money. Yes, they are expensive. Nobody takes that lightly. That is certainly a conversation that needs to be had, and we need to look at that. But, I do think if we can take the 1st and 7th districts back, and really make Indiana a powerhouse red state, and then also give Washington a boost with a little bit more in the majority there. I think, economically, it will pay off in the long run, and I think we'll see our investment have big returns."/p<>


Kyla Russell wrote this article for WISH-TV.


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A public funding mechanism for Seattle elections is up for renewal in next week's election.

The Democracy Voucher program was passed 10 years ago. It offers voters four $25 vouchers to use each election cycle for candidates who accept certain fundraising and spending limits. Supporters said it is a model for more inclusive democracy, touting higher turnout, increased participation from more small donors and a more diverse candidate field.

Spencer Olson, spokesperson for the group People Powered Elections Seattle, which supports Proposition 1, said the program helps level the playing field.

"It's really important that people's voices are heard and that candidates can run being supported by their constituents," Olson contended. "Versus just listening to those wealthiest donors, those special interests that have historically been the loudest voices at the table and really dominated what priorities rise to the top."

The voucher is supported by a property tax. Olson and other supporters hope to bring the model statewide. Critics said the program is not big enough to make a difference in elections and has not curbed outside spending. Ballots are due by 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Olson pointed out the vouchers have succeeded in encouraging more diverse participation in local elections.

"The intention of the program was to bring a public financing program to Seattle elections to help empower more candidates -- more diverse candidates, women, renters, people of color -- to have equal access to be able to run, and run competitive elections without having to rely on wealthy donors, special interests," Olson emphasized.

Olson noted because the money comes from a dedicated tax levy, unused vouchers roll over to the next election.

"The goal isn't to create an unlimited pot of money but to be able to provide resources for candidates to run with the community's support," Olson stressed. "But it's not a blank check at the same time."


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Texas lawmakers will return to Austin on July 21 for a special legislative session called by Gov. Greg Abbott.

The 18 items on the agenda include redrawing congressional maps. Redistricting usually occurs every 10 years, following the census, but Abbott added the item to the agenda after the Department of Justice drew attention to four Democratic seats.

Christina Sanders, founder of the nonprofit PoliChic Engagement Fund, said Texas maps are already caught up in litigation.

"Some of the court cases that are still even pending from the maps that have not been drawn fairly and the potential impact of new maps in the middle of a census cycle," Sanders explained.

The Biden administration sued Texas, alleging the state's legislative and congressional district maps discriminate against Latino and Black voters. The Justice Department, under President Donald Trump, withdrew from the lawsuit earlier this year.

The seats targeted by the Justice Department are held by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, and Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas. They are also focused on the vacant seat previously held by late Congressman Sylvester Turner. Following the 2023 legislative session, Abbott called four special sessions to pass a school voucher bill, which failed.

Sanders feels Abbott is using special sessions to push personal agendas.

"A special session would be for something like the flood that just occurred," Sanders argued. "It would be something that there is an emergency -- something immediate needs to happen at this moment -- because this policy for the state cannot wait."

Flood warning systems and communication are also on the agenda, along with hemp and THC legislation and changes to the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test.