Articles

Women celebrating the passage of the 19th amendment – getting the right to vote, August 26, 1920.

Used with permission of BPW/USA

Welcome to the

Center for Hand-Counted Paper Ballots

We are a training and research center that provides on-site instruction and resources to state and local election officials, poll workers and interested voters on how to run secure hand-counted paper ballots elections and recounts.  Hand-counted paper ballots elections are a solution to the fraud and error associated with the use of electronic voting machines (both touchscreens / DRE’s and optical scans) and the control of our elections by a privatized electronic voting machine industry.

Hand-counted paper ballots elections require new protocols to be implemented.  Therefore, there is a need for information and training for election officials and other poll workers.  We can also help you with ballot boxes and recruitment of hand-counters.  Hand-counted paper ballots elections are not only much less expensive than buying, upgrading, maintaining and storing electronic voting machines but also keep the money in the community.

The Center for Hand-Counted Paper Ballots was created to ensure that each one of our votes is counted as cast.  For voters to have confidence in our election system, counting of votes must be perceived as being fair and must BE fair.

The right to vote, as well as the principle of "one person, one vote," are cornerstones of our democracy. The anti-slavery, women’s suffrage, and civil rights movements as well as the expansion of voting to young people are all part of the history of electoral reform in this country. Equally fundamental is the assurance that each voter knows that her or his vote counts and is counted as intended. At this time in our history, many have lost confidence in our voting system.  Hand-counted paper ballots elections, with a secure chain of custody of the ballots, will restore confidence to voters.