Schneier on Security

john henry • April 4, 2020 5:56 PM

I’m a bit late to the party but let me add my 2 cents:

I should point out one thing that Puerto Rico lacks that most other states have: Jokes about people voting from cemetaries, “vote early, vote often” and so on.

The reason we don’t have those is because in the past 60-70 years, there have been no credible or serious allegations of voting fraud. The reason for this, in my opinion, is that it is pretty much impossible. Here is the basic process to vote:

1) Register. When you do this yout get a voter ID card that is at least as difficult, perhaps more difficult, to counterfeit than a drivers license or passport. This card cannot legally be accepted as ID, cashing a check, for example, other than for voting and related stuff.

2) On election day, same as presidential elections, polls are open for about 4 hours. We vote in an elementary school near my house. We show up and go to a classroom based on our last name. (8-10 classrooms) To enter, our finger is scanned with UV light.

3) Once in, we present Voter ID card and are checked against a list. Usually poll watchers from both parties do this.

4) If on the list, we dunk our right index finger in UV ink.

5) We get 3 paper ballots, Governor & resident commish, legislature and municipal. Ballots are colored to prevent mixup. We go into a small booth to mark them.

6) We fold the ballots and drop them in the appropriate ballot boxes.

7) As we leave, the UV gets verified.

In the event of a problem with the card, registration or such, there is a provision to cast a provisional ballot that is segregated until it can be ajudicated and added to the totals.

Absentee ballots are available to students and military outside of PR. In theory, they are available to others but a really good reason is required and it is apparently a tedious process.

There is some provision for early, but same day, voting for police, election workers and others needed for the elections.

In the case of people who can’t get to the polls, hospitalized, for example, there is a provision for them to vote on election day in a supervised manner.

If this sounds like a lot of hoops to jump through, it doesn’t affect turnout. Typically we have in the high 70s low 80%. I suspect, with no basis, that one of the reasons is the high degree of trust in the process. We may get politicians who make Chicago’s look like altarboys but we do get them honestly.

Ballots are initially counted in each polling place then sent to San Juan for recounting and certification. We usually have a final, though uncertified, count by 7-8PM election night. The official, certified count takes another week or so but is almost never significantly different from the initial, election day, count.

I’ve voted in every election since 1976 though I missed a couple over the years because I was traveling on business.

If we go to electronic voting, I will surrender my voter ID card and will not vote again.