Clerks across our state are in the middle of a renewed effort to ensure Wisconsin’s elections are accurate and secure. For the first time this year, the Wisconsin Elections Commission is asking more clerks — at least one in every county — to hand count a select amount of ballots and compare results to what machines counted. While there’s not been an issue with inaccuracy, they hope this lets voters see that for themselves. In the Green Bay City Clerk’s office, the audit begins at promptly 9:00 a.m. Staff take out ballots cast in two east-side wards and hand count the results — twice. They’re then compared to the results machines tabulated on election night.
The tedious, methodical and maybe monotonous work could take until Friday, but it’s an audit the Wisconsin Elections Commission says needs to happen, partly over concerns of election hacking.
“(There’s) the very small, small likelihood that that would ever happen, but in order to reassure the public and reassure ourselves that everything is working properly, the commission decided to significantly increase the number of audits,” says Reid Magney, public information officer for the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
Full Article: Hand count underway to ‘ensure integrity’ of Wisconsin elections.