Openness needed in counting votes

Re “Electronic voting is facing a recall,” Jan. 29, and “A paper jam roils state vote,” Jan. 28

Speaking as a frequent election observer, your recent series about electronic voting was a good summary of various problems facing election officials and voters. Unfortunately, the transparency of the process and voter privacy have been sacrificed.

Casting ballots is important, but counting the ballots is just as important. It is even more important that citizen observers actually see the ballots being counted. This isn’t happening. Election officials in many counties are at best uncooperative and at worst blatantly hostile to observers. Until that culture of secrecy is changed, voters have no reason to trust any election system, electronic or paper.

Diane K. Mitchell

Hemet

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Having worked at the polls for the last seven elections in Orange County, I wonder why we are not asking the companies that sold us the faulty voting machines to pay the $3 billion it will take to test and fix them.

Robert Chickering

Laguna Beach