# What are your concerns about election security and accessibility?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-concerns-about-election-security-and-accessibility/957167>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [January 3, 2022, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-concerns-about-election-security-and-accessibility/957167 "2022-01-03T23:09:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 13

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**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2022, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-concerns-about-election-security-and-accessibility/957167/13 "2022-01-05T00:49:49Z")

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> [@k9bfriender](#):
>
> The concern I have is machines that have no paper trail at all, that just takes your vote and sends it along with all the other electrons into a black box that no one can actually see into.

We have the paper trail, I think they have to keep them for two years or something. But IIRC nobody is allowed to look at them, not even for a recount. If the margin is within half a percentage point the ballots go through tabulating machines a second time. If it is within some even smaller fraction of a percentage point the second time I think actual people will look at ballots… but only the ballots that the machines thought were invalid. I don’t think real people are allowed to second-guess a tabulating machine that records a vote one way or another.

And the machine, when you use it, does not tell you how it is recording your votes. It doesn’t print a copy for inspection. It just increments a number showing how many ballots were processed, and I think there’s like a green light or a check mark or something.

~Max

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