Colorado 1st In Nation To Remove QR Codes From Ballots
DENVER (CBS4)- Secretary of State Jena Griswold says Colorado will remove "QR codes" from ballots. Colorado is the first state in the nation to do so in what's being called a move to protect the integrity of elections.
"Coloradans should have the utmost confidence in the results of our elections," Griswold told Alan Gionet on CBS4 This Morning.
QR stands for "quick response." The codes are produced on paper after voters make their selections.
"When you have a paper ballot with an encrypted code, even if you can see the votes that you made, how those ballots are counted is actually reading those encrypted codes," said Griswold.
But people cannot read the codes. There is no way for the voter to understand whether the vote has been counted properly or not.
"We're going to be the first state in the nation to say we're not going to have QR codes on the ballots, we're actually going to require that they not be on the ballots."
Other states could follow suit. Hackers have shown the ability to hack voting machines. Government experts have agreed paper ballots are at this point, less of a risk. Griswold notes Colorado's voting machines are not connected to the internet.
"As votes are counted they're going to be counted just looking at those little ovals that are filled out either by the person or by someone using a marking device, but with a printout of just those ovals."
Griswold says Colorado is better off than other states, "We definitely are the safest state as of today to cast a ballot."
But she also took time to criticize Tepublican leaders, "Nationwide our voting infrastructure should cause a lot of worry.
"We know that Russia had a pretty big plan they executed in 2016 and we have every reason to believe that Russia and China and other enemies are going to continue that into 2020."
Griswold, a Democrat called out the President and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on elections.
"Pres. Trump and Sen. McConnell are literally leaving states to fend off attacks from Russia and China."
