Commentary/Technically Speaking
By Perry Busby
Dear Westside Gazette readers and fellow Broward County residents, coming to you each week to talk about the issues and vulnerabilities in our voting system is not an opportunity I take lightly, nor do I take it for granted. This week, however, I don’t want to talk about voting; I want to speak to you about what’s at risk in our elections, and how you can help.
This month’s Presidential Primary election will be the first major test for Pete Antonacci, who was appointed Supervisor of Elections by former Governor Rick Scott in December 2018, after Scott suspended then SOE, Dr. Brenda Snipes, over a series of mistakes and unforced errors in the previous November election.
Antonacci brings great management skills to the SOE office, despite not having any prior election experience. He says he wants elections under his administration to operate effectively, efficiently, and without public embarrassment. He’s made much needed improvements in several areas, including raising wages for poll workers and reducing the turnaround time to pay them. He also made a few modest changes to internal operations after experiencing glitches in smaller municipal elections last year.
While these are noteworthy improvements, they fall short in ensuring all of our votes will be counted or accurately recorded.
I’m not talking about Russian hackers manipulating votes — although Russia and other foreign adversaries pose a real threat that we should never take lightly — I’m talking about errors that result from poor communication, lack of training and improperly configuring equipment. All of which can affect the outcome of an election, even when it appears that all has gone well.
According to State law, counties are required to audit elections after an election has been certified. Many election advocates say that while the law has good intentions, it is poorly enforced, resulting in many counties ignoring the audit process entirely. Some counties, like Broward, perform automated audits, which is nothing more than re-running ballots through the same voting machines and comparing the results. Because these audits are conducted after an election is certified, any adjustments that could affect the final tally are duly noted but ultimately ignored.
Elected officials have provided little help in this effort. Congress has been unable or unwilling to address the issue despite warnings from security and intelligence agencies. On the state and local front, Governor DeSantis and state and county officials have been silent on the issue.
This means that it is up to you and me to protect this hard fought, cherished right.
The Broward Citizens’ Audit initiative will be implementing Phase 1 of our election audit immediately after polls close on Tuesday, March 17th. We are seeking volunteers who will assist us in gathering election data from selected polling locations throughout the county. The data we capture will be used to compare and verify against reported election results. This will also allow us, the community, to identify discrepancies, if any, and alert officials prior to certifying the election.
If you are interested and want to volunteer, please email me at perrybusby03@gmail.com or call me at (786) 910-5140. We have a training session scheduled for March 14th, to teach you how to use the Actual Vote app for data capturing. Your help is needed and will be greatly appreciated.
