Letter to the Editor: Why should we go backwards when counting votes?

Dear editor:

Apparently there is a major push to change how ballots are counted during our elections. According to this movement, voting machines cannot be trusted and hand counting is the only way to ensure accurate results.  Never mind that machines in Big Horn County count paper ballots and anyone running for office can demand election results be recounted and verified by hand. The voting machines in Big Horn County are not connected to the internet, only electric plugins.

To miscount votes, county clerks, county commissioners, probably state people must be crooks. But we still have the paper ballots that can be hand counted and verified. My wife’s day at election time starts at 5 a.m.  She goes to the polls, opens up and starts the voting machines. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. She and other poll workers are there the entire day with no break.  At 7 p.m., polls are closed and poll staff proceed with ensuring all ballots are accounted for and ballots cast match the number of voters who voted at that polling location.  This balancing and securing of all votes cast usually concludes by 9 p.m.  With their 16-hour day complete, who wouldn’t be ready to hand count ballots? Apparently, it is impossible to cheat when hand counting ballots. 

Since Wyoming voting is allegedly crooked, what can we trust? Should we be required to bring calibrated 1 gallon gas cans to gas stations as we fill each can and slowly fill up our car to know the gas pump is accurate? How do we know our electric meters are accurate?  Shouldn’t Walmart, grocery stores, etc., be required to hand count each purchase? Should we bring scales to stores to ensure the weight on meat, etc., is accurate?  Can we trust any machine or should all tasks be done by hand count?

How do we know even the Bible hasn’t been bamboozled? Who transcribed the Bible from Hebrew and Greek? Maybe tricksters? Are we all destined to a place where we won’t need a coat? 

The voting machines are tested prior to the election which anybody can witness. How many people came to witness the process last election in Big Horn County? If zero is your guess, you are close.  Less that a handful of people attended the 2024 public testing of election equipment.   Even the people who were most insistent about fraudulent voting machines failed to show up. All ballots are handwritten and counted by a machine, which is much more accurate and much faster than hand counted ballots. Ballots can be hand counted if needed, but technology is efficient and accurate. Why should we go backwards?  

Owen C. Wantulok

Cowley