Make Every Vote Count – A Call to Action!

Senator Luke Rankin:
Office phone:  (803) 202-6610
email address:  LukeRankin@scsenate.org
Mailing address:  101 Gressette Bldg, Columbia 29201

• Ask him to please schedule a hearing for S. 374!
• Bill S. 374, sponsored by Thomas Alexander, states that “all voting systems in South Carolina shall utilize a paper-based system using paper ballots tabulated by optical scanners as the ballot of record.”
• We need to ensure that South Carolina obtains an election system that is secure and efficient at a reasonable cost.

Back Up Points:

• The State Election Commission’s approach to choosing a new voting system has been secretive: it should be opened to public input and scrutiny.
• If necessary, the existing RFP ( request for proposal) should be terminated; the integrity of our elections deserves public hearings.
• The system of hand-marked paper ballots, optically scanned at the precinct, which S.374 supports, can’t be hacked, can be audited, will end long lines and waiting at the polls, and is half the price!

What do they mean by optical scanners?

This website has a great explanation of different types of voting machines and tabulation methods.

http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/voting-equipment.aspx

SC is one of only 5 states that doesn’t use a paper ballot trail of some sort.

“Paper ballots – or, at least, auditable paper trails, in which voters can see their choices recorded on a printed roll of paper – have been recommended by experts from Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to the Brennan Center for Justice’s Democracy Program to the Defending Digital Democracy Project at Harvard’s Belfer Center. ”

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/states-vote-paper-ballots-experts-change/story?id=57835958

Was your vote counted correctly in the last election?

“In the last election, some votes in South Carolina got counted twice. Others were credited to the wrong candidate.”
https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article224084080.html