Letter to the editor: Restore election integrity with paper ballots

The writer of the letter ”County election deniers see problem that doesn’t exist” (Sept. 7, TribLive) accused Mary Rita Turka and me of trying to “cause chaos” in November’s election. Nonsense! We are representing the recommendations made by three election experts who testified before a Pennsylvania Senate committee hearing, saying our election systems are vulnerable to deliberate hacking and human error. Their combined expertise represented more than 60 years of addressing cyber and election security and voting machine issues. They urged immediate use of hand-marked paper ballots in November’s election to restore election integrity. Fifty-four other counties use hand-marked ballots; only 13 don’t.

Westmoreland County voters want equal voting provisions. Voters are at risk of their ballot selections not being properly counted. Why? A bar code gets assigned for each candidate. It is the bar code, not the candidate’s name, that gets scanned and counted. Voters have no way to verify if the bar code represented their candidate, especially when “vote flipping” occurs.

The experts stressed that hand-ballot marking is the most trustworthy evidence of the voter’s true intention in the event of an audit. Also, if there is a power outage, voting can continue. Voters won’t be disenfranchised. Just offer more marking pens.

We deserve undisrupted, uncorrupted elections. More than 5,000 voters signed a petition to vote by hand, and more are signing. Why? It’s less costly, less confusing (especially for seniors) and more accurate.

The county commissioners have time. Ballots aren’t ordered until Sept. 24. Call and email them today!

Susanna DeJeet

Delmont