New Study Finds Voters Do Not Accurately Verify Computer-Marked/Barcoded 'Paper Ballots'

https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2018/12/03/why-voters-should-mark-ballots-by-hand/

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As a practical matter, do voters verify their BMD-printed ballot cards, and are they even capable of it? Until now, there hasn’t been much scientific research on that question.

A new study by Richard DeMillo, Robert Kadel, and Marilyn Marks now answers that question with hard evidence:

In a real polling place, half the voters don’t inspect their ballot cards, and the other half inspect for an average of 3.9 seconds (for a ballot with 18 contests!).
When asked, immediately after depositing their ballot, to review an unvoted copy of the ballot they just voted on, most won’t detect that the wrong contests are presented, or that some are missing.

This can be seen as a refutation of Ballot-Marking Devices as a concept. Since we cannot trust a BMD to accurately mark the ballot (because it may be hacked), and we cannot trust the voter to accurately review the paper ballot (or even to review it at all), what we can most trust is an optical-scan ballot marked by the voter, with a pen. Although optical-scan ballots aren’t perfect either, that’s the best option we have to ensure that the voter’s choices are accurately recorded on the paper that will be used in a recount or random audit.

Here’s how DeMillo et al. measured voter verification.

In Gatlinburg, Tennessee they observed a polling place during a primary election in May 2018. There were several BMDs (ExpressVote), where voters produced their ballot card using a touchscreen, and a single optical scanner where voters then deposited their ballot cards. The observers were not close enough to see the voters’ choices, but close enough to see the voter’s behavior. 87 voters were observed, of whom 47% did not look at the ballot card at all before depositing it, and 53% reviewed the card for an average of 3.9 seconds. There were 18 contests on the ballot.
Near Chattanooga, Tennessee during an August 2018 primary election, they conducted a kind of “exit poll”, at the required distance of 150 feet from the polling location. The voter was asked to review an unvoted optical-scan sample ballot, and was asked, “Is this the ballot you just voted on?”
------1.When the voter was given the correct ballot, 86% recognized as the right ballot, and 14% thought it was different from what they voted.
------2.When the voter was given a subtly incorrect ballot (completely different set of candidates either for House of Representatives, for County Commission, or for School Board), 56% wrongly said that this was the ballot they voted, and 44% said there was something wrong.
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more discussion of this at http://bradblog.com/?p=12829