Image Credit: Williamson County Television / YouTube
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
The Williamson County Commission voted Monday night to fund the purchase of ES&S electronic voting machines, a purchase they previously voted down after public outcry.
Concerned Williamson County citizens have been asking the Williamson County Election Commission (WCEC) for increased transparency and integrity over the past few years and to return to pre-printed hand-marked paper ballots.
Prior to 2019, Williamson County used ES&S electronic voting machines and then switched to Dominion machines. In 2022, the WCEC made a proposal to go back to leasing ES&S machines after a letter was sent from State Secretary Tre Hargett and Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins that addressed issues with the Dominion machines.
After the County Commission voted to deny the recent purchase proposal, the WCEC took feedback from the community and amended their ES&S purchase request with an additional request for funds for a third-party study to be conducted on hand-marked paper ballots.
On Monday night, some commissioners were leery of voting down the purchase for a second time due to a few factors:
1. In voting no for a second time, the commission could be in violation of state law.
• Tennessee Code Annotated 2-20-101 states that ballots – either marked by hand or with the assistance of a device – must be inserted in an optical scanner/tabulator.
2. The WCEC could sue the county if the purchase is not approved.
• The County is responsible for funding, but not necessarily responsible for approving the purchase of the machines according to remarks given during the meeting on Monday. The WCEC could decide to purchase the machines and sue the county for reimbursement.
3. Commissioners were concerned about fiscal responsibility
• In voting down the purchase and the use of over $900 thousand in grant money, the County might have to raise taxes in Williamson County to fund the eventual purchase of other machines.
An amendment to the resolution was added before the Commissioners voted that will require the WCEC to conduct the study for hand-marked paper ballots.
The use of such ballots is allowed under state law. Shelby County, Hamilton County, Maury County and Knox County all conduct elections using hand-marked paper ballots.
Hand-marked paper is used for absentee ballots and now include watermarks for additional security. It’s possible that these could be used for early and election day voting.
The WCEC made the case for a third-party to study the feasibility and costs involved with using hand-marked paper ballots so that all factors could be considered, including additional staffing that may be needed.
The Commission voted 16 to 8 to approve the funding for the machines and the study. Commissioners Gregg Lawrence, Mary Smith, Barb Sturgeon, Lisa Hayes, Jeff Graves, Pete Stresser, Drew Torres, and Christopher Richards all voted no.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
11 Responses
How is the election commission selected? Is it elected, or appointed?
Appointed by the Secretary of State
Let’s see if voting habits take a big turn after this.
Treason.
All 16 who voted yes are traitors and have declared war on the inalienable rights of their constituents.
They should be treated as traitors and made to feel unwelcome.
I vote for paper ballots, no Machines!!!!
In Benton Co. we have hand marked ballots scanned by machine, which IMHO, should be required nationwide. All I’d change is voters getting a receipt/copy of their vote.
I thought the Commissioners worked for the people?? Get rid of them.
Here’s a fact on “costs” of using paper ballots and hand-counting: Milton GA (Fulton County) has 30,000 registered voters. It saved over $250,000 by pulling the plug on machines and returning to hand counting ballots.
Extrapolating to Williamson County’s 178,000+ voters, there could well be a savings of $1,250,000 or more, conservatively speaking.
I hope the citizens of the county stand up.
They are having not only their freedom, but also their $$ stolen directly from them.
All electronic devices are hackable and should be outlawed in all voting. The original paper voting system used was proven to work. Corrupt politicians support anything that they can use to cheat with. And they have proven to do so all across America. My vote is sacred and must not be altered in any way. Corruption is evil and must not be tolerated. Penalties enforced.
Roane County has the same problem. People hear are against voting machines, but our county commission and the Good O’l Boys in the Election office doesn’t care what the people want or say for that matter. On August 4th 2022..Roane County had 6 machines to go down and the Election office when questioned, had no comments…hmmm and the same ones was put back in. Mark Goin and Tre Hargett should be removed from their position and let the people in Tennessee appoint these positions.