MILLIS, MA – Restoring Trust in Our Elections: How Massachusetts Counts and Reports Votes

Computerized elections have two phases. First, ballots are counted, mostly by tabulators, at each polling place. Second, those precinct results are passed “upchain” to the state, where they’re combined into official totals. Mistakes, whether human or machine, can happen in either phase, and every mistake that goes uncaught weakens public trust.

At the polling place, the process is visible: election workers and observers can watch results being produced and checked. Once results leave the town, though, it’s much less clear what checks exist to confirm that the numbers received match the numbers sent.

Before we can propose improvements, possibly including new Massachusetts legislation, we need to understand how the process actually works today, from precinct to state.

Lisa Hardin, former Millis Town Clerk, will walk us through how she ran elections in Millis:

1. How results were collected from each tabulator.
2. How those results were checked and corrected
3. How the checks, corrections, and results were publicized
4. How the results were submitted upchain
5. How she confirmed her submission was received and recorded accurately

This is a learning session. Please bring your questions.

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