LogFAQs > #979203106

*Be me, black man who lives in middle of Texas voting in primary*
*Same venue and all that, slight steady stream of people*
*get into main hall of the community center, notices people hunched down at tables with those dividers*
<Me>: "....Paper ballots?"

*asks one of the workers how come the paper ballots for this year*
<Me>: *already has an idea, but wanted to know if she knew* "Hey, why are we on paper ballots this year?"
*She doesn't know, but calls over one of the 'leaders,' some big tall white dude*
<Me>: *asks him the same thing*
<Dude>: *gives a spiel that basically is paraphrased as thus* "It's easier to keep track of where the votes go on a paper ballot"
<Me>: "Really?"
*Oh god....either he's naive or really is a believer in the conspiracy*
<Me>: "But, the electronic ones were secure before, they weren't connected to anything on the outside."
<Dude>: *I can see him struggling to answer that* "They...had a connection ((a lie right there)), but..." *goes back to odd 'answer' about paper ballots having a better trail on who person voted for, which...makes little sense*
<Me>: "Okay, thank you."

....
*walking outside of the community center, an older black woman is also walking out at same time.*
<Me>: "That was fun, huh?"
<Woman>: "At least it was fast."
<Me>: "The electronic machines were faster."
<Woman>: "Yes they were."
<Me>: "And-"
<Woman>: *interrupts* "And we both know why they took 'em out. Believing in conspiracy theories."

It's sad as hell to see the 'voting fraud' conspiracy theory bullshit that the GQP politicians gleefully harped on about take shape and make things go backwards in terms of progress.

Oh, and to make sure I wasn't talking out of my ass, I checked this, but keep in mind, it's an article from 2022....

https://www.tpr.org/government-politics/2022-10-26/texas-voting-machines-are-secure-heres-how-they-actually-work

Hacking concerns unfounded, state says
One false allegation that circulated around voting machines is that they are hackable because of a connection to the internet. Scott explained why this isnt true.
Voting machines in Texas are never connected to the internet, he said. In fact, in order to be certified in Texas elections, they cannot even have the capability of connecting to the internet.
This allegation comes from a misunderstanding about how voting data gets transferred and counted.