All but two of the 75 counties in Arkansas use voting machines that create paper copies of each ballot cast. Clerks in Union and Ouachita counties said they’ve never had a problem with their voting equipment. Election security experts have raised concerns about voting devices that don’t produce receipts for individual voters because the lack of those receipts makes it hard to ensure no votes were manipulated. Ouachita County Clerk Britt Williford acknowledged those concerns are the biggest drawback to his county’s current voting machines, which the county plans to replace before the general election in November.
“We haven’t had any problems,” Williford said. “The only problem would be is that there’s no box they can go and pull all the ballots out of in the case of a recount.”
Essentially, voters would have to take his word for it, Williford said.
Union County hasn’t been able to afford new voting equipment, according to County Clerk Shannon Phillips, but an Arkansas secretary of state’s office spokesman said the state office has been discussing upgrading Union County’s voting devices by using a combination of state and federal dollars.
Full Article: Lack of paper trail an election concern.