TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — As we head into 2024 and a presidential election, at least one Florida lawmaker wants to take technology out of the ballot counting process.
State Representative Berny Jacques (R-Seminole) sponsored the bill that would allow hand-counting of ballots at election precincts. The proposal would also prevent the Department of State from using voting machines that use hardware or software designed, owned, or licensed by foreign corporations.
Under current law, counties must use electronic machines to tabulate votes.
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“We want people to get out, vote and have trust that when they cast that ballot, it will be counted according to their wishes,” Jacques said in an interview with the News Service of Florida.
Rep. Jacques’ proposal is in line with similar pushes in other states in the wake of the 2020 election, and unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud related to voting machines.
“There are a lot of individuals who believe, in their heart of hearts, and have run different models, that show hand-counting may be a more accurate way of tabulating votes when it’s done at the precinct level and it’s in a controlled setting,” Jacques added.
Those that run elections here have a different take on hand-counting.
“For a large county especially, it's absolutely ludicrous,” said Craig Latimer, the supervisor of elections in Hillsborough County, where voters cast more than 700,000 ballots in 2020.
“Taking the tabulation out and trying to hand count everything, I can't even imagine how long it would take you to do that,” Latimer added.
In Florida, voting machines are tested before and after elections for accuracy and security.
“There's 36 things to vote for on this ballot, 36 things so you're going to have to have people sit down and look over all of these, which comes out that like 17 million opportunities for people to vote, when a half a million people or more come out and vote in Hillsborough County,” Latimer said pointing to a 2018 ballot.
“It's not going to work. If you want the results, we're going to have maybe a month and I don't know how accurate they will be," he explained.
The non-partisan organization Verified Voting says the expansion of hand counting, proposed in several states just this year would have a negative impact on accuracy and cause a slow-down in reporting election results, ultimately undermining public confidence. Something election officials like Latimer have been working to build up, with frequent machine testing and audits.
“People should have confidence in that,” Latimer says. Hillsborough County outlines how the voting process works from start to finish and how you can ensure your ballots’ security.
In Florida, hand counts are already required when race results are extremely tight (.25% margin).
“We vote on paper, we can always go back and look at that paper at any point to verify anything,” Latimer added.
The proposal will be taken up when the legislative session begins next month.
News Service of Florida contributed to this report