EL: Yes. There's something we haven't touched on that makes this year's election very different. In the past, election security advocates have focused on exposing the vulnerabilities in our election system and irregularities that occur in specific elections. This year, we have a very real possibility of seeing baseless politically-motivated claims that the election was stolen. It will be hard to know whether those claims have merit without full transparency of election processes. As my colleague John Brakey of AUDIT Elections USA says, voting must be a private process, but counting must be a public process.
I encourage everyone to vote on a paper ballot if they possibly can. Without hand-marked paper ballots, we have no way to conduct meaningful audits to make sure the election results are accurate. And get ready to participate in public oversight of the election. Scrutineers can help, and there are other groups that can, too. Our democracy really does depend on it.
JB: Thanks so much for chatting with me, Emily. It was great to learn more about Scrutineers. If we each jump in and do one action to protect and preserve our elections, we will all be better off and so will American democracy that we cherish.
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Find Scrutineers at Scrutineers.org. Follow them on Twitter @ScrutineersUS. Or listen to the Scrutineers Series podcast, a joint project with WhoWhatWhy.org. Search your podcast app for "WhoWhatWhy's podcasts." Episodes and rough transcripts are also posted at WhoWhatWhy.org.
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