Voter integrity - paper ballots are essential: Echo from Indiana

Paper vote backup is absolutely essential for 2020, election- echo opinion letter from the Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne Indiana.https://www.wjtv.com/top-stories/dhs-official-calls-for-paper-ballots-to-help-secure-2020-election-mississippi-has-a-paper-trail/

The Journal Gazette (July 30) - writing from Wayne Indiana,  reports that Allen County will have a paper vote backup – truly a good thing when it was discovered, and agreed to by Republicans and Democrats alike, that the Russians had practiced extensive and pervasive interference in the 2016 election with the goal of supporting Donald Trump and discouraging support for his competitor.

Not implementing the paper vote backup technology until 2029 belies the fact that the Russians are going to interfere with our 2020 election (a contention supported by all of our intelligence agencies). It is believed the interference will probably be even more invasive, given the support for it by the White House, with perhaps even attempts to change actual votes at polling places.

I implore Beth Dlug, Allen County Indiana director of elections, to realize the delay in implementing paper vote backup is a clear message to the Russians it's OK to interfere in the 2020, elections as we will have no backup to confirm votes at the polling places.

I read that it will cost $1.2 million to implement this technology. 

In my mind, that is a small amount to secure our elections in the future.

We must act now to get paper vote backup technology for the 2020 presidential election. Act now to secure our democracy for ourselves and to the world that depends on us as a beacon of freedom.

David Maher, Fort Wayne Indiana