DRE: How does the “electronic ballot box” work in US elections?

The North American electoral system has its own characteristics that are very different from what we are used to in Brazil. Voting with paper ballots is known in the USA, but North Americans also use DREa kind of “cousin” of the electronic ballot box for counting votes.

If you think our American neighbors are counting millions of pieces of paper with candidates’ names on them, that’s not the case. The USA has developed some solutions in recent years; DRE and optical scanning system To facilitate the counting and counting of votes in elections.

The country does not follow a single standard, as each American state or territory has some autonomy in organizing voting. Therefore, technologies can vary greatly, complicating understanding even for those living there.

First of all, it is important to clarify that paper voting still exists today, but manual counting of votes by inspectors is an extremely rare practice. With a population of approximately 330 million spread across all 50 states, it is impossible to check papers in a timely manner.

DRE: Americans’ “ballot box”

Various forms of official voting already exist in the US, but DRE (Direct Recording Electronics) is the closest to Brazil. These devices, also called electronic voting, come in different shapes and can resemble a bank ATM.

This DRE does not follow a standard and can operate via a touch screen, a large remote control or a dial depending on the location. The devices also include headphones to help people with some difficulties.

DREs were introduced to the public in the 1970s to replace voting machines with a mechanical lever system in which voters literally use a lever to choose the candidate. Therefore, DRE is basically memory cards, floppy disks, etc. It is an electronic device or computer responsible for storing votes using

In the most modern versions of these devices, the user selects their desired candidate via a screen and can choose to receive a paper ballot as proof of the process. Called VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail), this document allows people to verify which machine counted votes correctly and also acts as a transcript in cases of election auditing or vote counting.

Is DRE safe?

Since it is a type of computer, DRE causes a lot of controversy regarding its security. These machines don’t rely on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, radio, or any wireless connection; This means they are very complex to hack.

To access the data, it will be necessary to physically insert a device into the machine and only then attempt to discover the information or defraud the results. But just like in Brazil, the machines are guarded by professionals to prevent unauthorized outside access to the devices.

All machines are tested and stored in secure locations to prevent any fraud or manipulation of results. However, like any mechanical or electronic device, the DRE may exhibit some internal malfunctions that cause errors or inconsistencies.

Scan voting is the most used

Although DRE is very popular, this voting method has been losing ground in recent elections, particularly due to fears over its security. For this reason, the most used voting technology in recent years is optical scanning.

In this method, voters fill out a paper with the candidate they want or do so electronically through devices called Ballot Marking Devices. These devices may resemble a ballot box or DRE, but unlike the latter the vote is only printed on paper and not saved in the machine’s internal memory.

When filling out the ballot with the chosen candidate, voters can use a scanning machine that will tally the vote. In very crowded or very large voting centers, votes are dropped into the ballot boxes and the votes are then counted at high speed from scanners, individually or in groups, in an election unit.

Other methods

In addition to DRE and optical scanning, the United States already uses other popular methods to count votes in elections. One of these is Ballot Marking Devices, which were implemented in 2002 following a major debate in the 2002 election between Bush and Al Gore, who demanded a vote recount and interrupted the process by declaring George W. Bush’s victory.

In the past, people used a system of leverage to vote for users; Recently, some states have adopted electronic systems that allow voting from tablets that print a type of receipt confirming the vote. It is also possible to perform classical voting via the postal system.