Here’s why Williamson County is switching to new voting machines after state review
Repost fromt Tennessean.
Williamson County will use new voting machines in its 2022 election cycle following vote tabulation discrepancies found during the October election. The discrepancies did not affect the final vote tally of those elections, which were verified through a hand count.
“The primary concern that we have at the Williamson County Election Commission is that elections are held with fidelity and transparency, and that voters would have confidence in the results,” said Election Commission Chair Jonathan Duda. “This process has demonstrated that we’re going to go to all efforts to ensure that occurs, and that’s precisely what we’re doing here.”
The county will rent and use Electronic Systems & Software machines in the 2022 election cycle. The machines function similarly to the Dominion voting machines used in previous elections and will output vote tallies both on physical “tapes” — essentially printed receipts — and electronically.
The Tennessee State Department and third-party analysts recommended the switch in a February letter to the Election Commission. Duda served on the Williamson County Election Commission during the 2021 election cycle and was recently named chair. Former chair Bob Brown left the role to serve as U.S. House candidate Beth Harwell’s campaign manager.
Why the switch?
The letter from Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett and state election coordinator Mark Goins outlined the discrepancies in the October election. The state consulted with election system reviewers Pro V&V and SLI Compliance to conduct testing on the voting machines and replicate the errors seen during the election.