Election conspiracy theories fueled a push to hand-count votes, but doing so is risky and slow

Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — Donald Trump and many Republican elected officials say they want to have ballots counted by hand rather than trusting machines to tabulate the vote. But research shows that hand-counting is more prone to error, delays results and costs more. Paper records of every vote already are produced in nearly every state. Those paper ballots or hard-copy records also are used in postelection, hand-count audits that verify the accuracy of the vote. Research has shown that using hand-counts for every vote on every ballot would actually increase the chances for mistakes and fraud.