Trust in Elections Starts with Hand Counting Ballots

In a Republic, faith in the voting process is the cornerstone of every election. Without it, the entire system falters. It doesn’t matter who wins or loses—if citizens don’t believe the ballot counting process was fair, then our democracy loses its foundation.

As someone who has spent decades in the technology industry, I can tell you one simple truth: if a machine is involved, it can be hacked. That’s not speculation—it’s a technical fact. Every electronic system that reads, counts, or transmits data can be vulnerable to compromise. No matter how advanced the encryption or how many layers of security are claimed, there’s no such thing as an unhackable computer.

And yet, across the country, states continue to rely on electronic voting and machine tabulation as if these systems were beyond question. They’re not! When it comes to something as sacred as our right to vote, convenience and speed should never take priority over integrity and transparency.

It’s Time to Return to Accountable Hand Counting Ballots

Hand counting ballots isn’t old-fashioned—it’s honest. It’s visible. It’s human. When we count ballots by hand, we put accountability back where it belongs—at the local level. In Montana, trained election judges manage the counting process, and transparency is ensured by allowing every candidate and political party to have authorized observers present for each stage of voting and ballot tabulation. That’s what real democracy looks like—neighbors watching neighbors, in full view of the public, with no hidden algorithms deciding the outcome.

Machine counting might give us results faster, but fast doesn’t mean better. If it takes a few extra hours or even a day to count ballots by hand, that’s a small price to pay for confidence in the outcome. The real danger isn’t a delayed result—it’s a distrusted one.

Then there’s the growing problem of mail-in ballots. They were introduced with good intentions—making it easier for citizens to participate—but the system has become rife with potential abuse. How many ballots are still being sent to old addresses, or even to voters who have died? Even if these numbers are small, every questionable ballot erodes public confidence in the process. And confidence in elections isn’t something that can be engineered through technology—it must be earned through transparency.

Let’s Avoid Voter Fraud, Return to In-Person Voting

Returning to in-person voting, voter ID, and hand-counted paper ballots isn’t a step backward. It’s a return to accountability. It’s how we make sure that every eligible voter has one vote—and every vote counts exactly once.

Montanans pride ourselves on honesty, integrity, and independence. We still believe that our word and our work mean something. If we truly value that spirit, then we should demand the same from our elections. The people who count our votes should be the people we see at the grocery store, not anonymous technicians behind locked doors.

Our elections are only as strong as the trust we have in them. Machines can’t give us that trust—only people can. Hand counting ballots may take longer, but it restores something we’ve lost: confidence in the foundation of our Republic.

It’s not just counting votes that’s important; it’s about our voice, and ensuring that the integrity of our elections is never outsourced to a machine.