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Nearly very state still has within its election code a provision that allows public observers the right to inspect physical ballot box containers and paper ballots before the polls open on Election Day. (Example: New Hampshire Election Code Section 658:36 Inspection of Ballot Box – At the opening of the polls, the ballot box shall be publicly opened and shown to be empty; and the election officers shall ascertain that fact by a personal examination of the box. eff. July 1, 1979) Nearly every state also still has within its election code a provision that allows public observers to watch election clerks open physical ballot box containers and count the paper ballots at the end of the Election Day.
Ballot box inspection laws are on the book of every state because in the past political partisans are known to have stuffed ballot boxes in a wide variety of ways. Election laws of nearly every state affirm it is the duty of election judges and clerks and the right of election observers in every voting precinct to inspect paper ballots and each ballot box container to certify ballots are accurate and ballot boxes are empty. In the November 2000 presidential election there were 184,850 precinct-polling places each with an Election Judge, Alternate Judge, an average of four clerks and one election observer. That tabulates to approximately 1,293,950 ordinary citizen volunteers certifying the ballots, ballot boxes and voting processes were above-board – this is the true power behind America’s free and democratic society.
