The General Assembly budgeted $10 million last year for election security, including adding voter verified paper trails to electronic voting machines. Unfortunately, that amount will cover only about 10 percent of the machines that need upgrades. Without these upgrades, voters never see a printout of their ballot and there is no paper trail to use in post-election audits.
Local League of Women Voters members are concerned about the legislature’s decision to wait until 2030 to provide a paper backup for every vote cast. We are grateful that our St. Joseph County voting machines include a paper trail. Voters in other counties deserve no less. A representative democracy requires that eligible voters have access to secure polling sites and confidence that every vote will be counted. County and state officials should act now.
The future of our democracy depends on it.
