Westport’s Republican Registrar of Voters, Maria Signore, has worked on elections in Connecticut since 2002. Signore says she has seen some individual ballot discrepancies over the years, from voters accidentally voting for two candidates when they only meant to vote for one, to mis-marking their ballots.

Voting Machine Demonstration

Signore and her Democratic counterpart, Deborah Greenberg, are now preparing for the August primaries by holding a public demonstration of their voting tabulator machines. It’s a routine practice in Westport and happens before any election, but it occurred in the days after President Donald Trump delivered a speech putting into question his commitment to adhering to the midterm election results.

Francesca Signore, Maria Signore’s mother, spent years working on elections in Connecticut. She explained the tabulator, which counts the paper ballots, is actually separated from what they call the black box, which contains the paper ballots, and multiple parts of the device are locked separately, with tags, so any tampering would be readily apparent.

Every operation carried out with the tabulator is done in the presence of another deputy registrar. Signore said the office is nonpartisan and all they care about is ensuring the upcoming elections go off without a hitch.

Westport’s election security is similar to other municipalities in Connecticut. While fears of widespread voter fraud are unfounded according to elections officials, isolated incidents in other cities, especially Bridgeport, have fueled conspiracy theories about voter fraud throughout Connecticut on social media.

Maria Signore pointed out that even in Bridgeport, where ballot tampering allegations have gone to court, local voting officials weren’t accused of electoral misconduct.

Numerous state officials, including Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas, criticized Trump’s remarks in recent days, citing many of his claims are based on falsehoods.

Greenberg said any misgivings by the public can be addressed by simply coming to see for themselves. “Our tabulators are not connected with the internet and all protocols are followed,” Greenberg said. “It’s virtually impossible; I don’t know how any of our results would be tampered with.”

Original reporting: The Connecticut Mirror — read the source article.