Paper ballots are back in the news again.

I vote a paper ballot because Texas law says a person who is over 65, disabled, or is going to be out of the county during the voting period can vote by mail. I also serve on the ballot board, where mail ballots are tediously verified by signature with both a Democrat and a Republican present, then opened and laid flat for the voting machine to count them. It’s a tedious two-week job but it restores my faith in democracy and in voting.

I do not like electronic voting. My county’s voting machines are radial dial, which are difficult to use, and that causes voter suppression. I don’t like them and you can’t make me.

Denton, Texas, just north of Dallas – or, as the locals say, “if Oklahoma sucked just a little more, they’d pull Denton out of Texas.” – has decided to go back to paper ballots. Their last election was a damn mess. The people who make voting machines claim it was a human mistake, the humans say no the hell not.

I dunno for sure, but I think it would be harder for the Russians to steal an election with paper ballots, especially since you can hand-count paper ballots for a recount.

I damn well hope the rest of Texas falls in the paper ballot box before too long. Yeah, they can be stolen and messed with, but it just damn harder to do if you have a metal box and good lock.

Thanks to Marc for the heads up.