Why do election experts oppose hand-counting ballots?
By KARENA PHAN and ALI SWENSON
Associate Press
Election experts oppose hand-counting ballots because it takes longer than counting with machines, it’s less reliable and it’s a logistical nightmare for U.S. elections. Numerous studies have shown that people make far more errors counting than do machines. They’re also vastly slower. Depending on jurisdiction and staffing, hand-counting could delay results by days, weeks or even months. Proponents of hand-counting often point to countries like France, which use it more or less successfully, but experts say that’s because they have simpler elections with just one race at a time. In the U.S., ballots are far more complicated.
