JP, we have the same thing in my Mass. town but I’m not worried.
We have to fill in the little circles on the ballot, then slide the ballot into the machine. The counter then adds my ballot to the day’s tally of votes cast. A scanner reads the dots right then and there and compiles a total for each candidate, with that total given at the end of the night.
But the paper ballot itself remains, inside the box. If somebody challenges the result, the ballots can be pulled out and counted by hand. My wife and I took advantage of early voting and our paper ballots, with circles filled, were placed into signed envelopes until Election Day, when they too will be slid into the machine.
I’ve watched a couple of recounts and I’ve never seen an anomaly between the “automatic” count and the hand recount. Knowing my town, we’d dump those machines into the Merrimack if they were found to be crooked.
Those poor folks who are stuck (for now) with Soros machines don’t have the ability to do a recount. The electronic tally is all they have, with no paper ballot for recounts. That sucks and needs to be fixed.
I understand that anybody using a voting machine can ask for a paper ballot instead. I think all of them should.
“But the paper ballot itself remains, inside the box. If somebody challenges the result, the ballots can be pulled out and counted by hand.”
True. Didn’t consider that.
Would still like some sort of “receipt”.