ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Kevin Arrazzaaq is a St. Louis resident who proudly wears his USA t-shirt, hopeful for the future. He’s voted without concern for years.
“We're in bad shape, so we have to get out and we have to vote and voice our opinions," Arrazzaaq said.
For Arrazzaaq, the process is quick, efficient and most importantly—trustworthy. But under a new proposal by Missouri State Sen. Denny Hoskins (R-District 21), many people fear their vote could be compromised.
The push for hand-counting
“I don't trust the election machines," said Hoskins, Republican secretary of state candidate, on June 30 when he spoke at a meeting of Republicans in Cass County, Missouri. “So, I've always said the most safe and secure elections are in person on election day with a voter ID and paper ballot. And no, I don't trust the election machines.”
It's distrust echoed by former President Donald Trump.
Hoskins aims to ban computers used to tabulate votes and return to hand-counting paper ballots. He declined an on-camera interview but emailed, “If I am elected… ensuring the security and integrity of our elections will be my top priority.”
Experts warn his plan could grind Missouri’s elections to a halt.
Electronic tabulation
Under Missouri House Bill 1878, all votes are required to be cast on paper. Electronic tabulation computers are then used to count votes in the vast majority of counties, according to the Missouri Secretary of State‘s Office. Electronic tabulators are capable of counting hundreds of thousands of votes on paper ballots in hours.
To find out more, we came to the tabulation room at St. Louis County’s Board of Elections. After you scan your vote, computers tally thousands of votes in seconds.
The county’s election directors said switching to hand counting would be at least five times more costly, take weeks instead of hours and be less accurate.
A Rice University academic study from 2007 using only 120 ballots showed that people counting by hand got it right only 58% of the time.
“I think it's all political," St. Louis County’s Republican Director of Elections Rick Stream said. "I think it's all political to get elected in a Republican primary."
“Prior to voting machines, we did count all the ballots by hand, and it didn't go very well," St. Louis County’s Democratic Director of Elections Eric Fey said.
Fey told the I-Team there are well-documented problems over a long period of time with hand counting.
That changed in the 1950s when Missouri passed a law allowing the use of electronic tabulation. Election officials said the process has multiple safeguards. Computers are never connected to the internet.
“It's all behind locked doors that only high-level Republicans and Democrats can get into together," said Stream.
He said Hoskins' proposal would have serious consequences.
“That would eliminate our scanners at the polling places, along with the tabulation computers in our tabulation room. That would also eliminate any touchscreen voting machines in Missouri counties that use them,” Stream said.
“We have to randomly select 5% of the precincts, count those by hand in bipartisan teams," Fey said. “Anytime there's a really close election, we recount 100% of those ballots.”
After the 2020 election, a hand recount in the battleground state of Arizona confirmed machine accuracy.
University of Missouri-St. Louis political science professor David Kimball warns getting rid of electronic tabulators would be illogical.
“It would be less reliable, more expensive and more time-consuming," Kimball said.
They're all bad outcomes and the last thing voters like Arrazzaaq want.
“So, I would prefer the same way that I've been doing," Arrazzaaq said.
Reactions to hand-counting ballots
“If this candidate wants very expensive, inaccurate counts that take a really long time, then he’s got a great policy prescription," said David Becker, director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, a nonprofit group that works to build confidence in elections. "But if he wants accurate counts that take up a reasonable amount of resources that can be done quickly when people expect them, then this is an incredibly bad idea."
Missouri State Rep. Barbara Phifer, the Democratic candidate for secretary of state, said in an email: “The idea of hand tabulating ballots in Missouri is a classic case of a conspiracy theory looking for a problem. It is a recipe to create chaos and distrust within our election system. It is far easier to manipulate voting results using manual tabulation in comparison to using voting machines. In the 2020 election, a hand count in St Louis County would have resulted in more than 24,300,000 individual items to be counted.”
St. Louis City Board of Elections Democratic Director Ben Borgmeyer told us: “A hand recount would consist of teams made up of one Republican and one Democrat reviewing each ballot cast ... The thought of producing these additional workers is overwhelming ... There is no current issue with the tabulation of ballots."
We reached out to Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s Office. A spokesperson told us: “Missouri is ranked in the top tier among states regarding safe, secure elections with unofficial election results posted within hours after the polls close on Election Day ... Hand counting of ballots has occurred in smaller counties at the discretion of the local election authority. As well, statute requires manual recounts (5%) with all elections.”
Joanna Lydgate, CEO of States United Action, a nonprofit aimed at protecting election integrity, said in an email: “We've seen this idea floated before, based on the same conspiracies that fuel election denial. But election officials across the country have repeatedly found that counting ballots entirely by hand leads to mistakes. Modern vote-counting systems are secure and accurate. They have to meet strict security requirements to be certified for use in an election. And they reduce human error, fatigue and bias. Hand counts are already an important part of Missouri elections. They're used in a limited way, to double-check that election equipment worked and that votes were counted accurately. Bottom line: Full hand counts would set the stage for confusion, undermine voter confidence and introduce mistakes.”
Have a tip for the I-Team? Leave a voice message on 314-444-5231 or email Senior Investigative Reporter Paula Vasan directly at paula@ksdk.com.