@BobE - The question isn't "can a rescan be checked or audited enough to make it reliable" it's asking why a hand recount might be better, to which the answer is one can fully verify results on each and every ballot. If you're doing a quality control check, it's generally better to be able to verify using a different method, than the same one, for the most part, isn't it?
If your argument is "no, human error" keep in mind that on recounts any individual ballot isn't just verified by one individual. And that doesn't include party observers.
@PoloHoleSet, alas, my interpretation of the question is more along the lines of: what is the relative error for hand counts, what is the relative error for machine counts. How do these error rates compare? The relative error for each can be determined by serial "counting" of a reference set. I'm not aware of any rigorous testing of error in hand counting. However, there should be known error rates for machine counts.
@PoloHoleSet: What isn't specifically clear to me is this: In the Georgia "hand recount", it seems that each ballot was (human) examined for presidential preference leading to tens of thousands of ballots for each of the candidates. Now my uncertainty is this, did each of those examiners mark separate document (a tally sheet, a series of strokes) or did they simply sort the pile in front of them.
@PoloHoleSet (continued). If the visual examiners did not keep a running tally as each ballot was sorted.... how were the respective piles actually "counted". (my suspicion is that each pile was placed into a "machine" (the optical scanner would do) and just counted the number of ballots without regard to voter's markings on those ballots).
@BobE - In every example of a hand-recount that I have seen, there are at least two or three people who examine the ballot at the same time, agree on what it says, then they tally it, with partisan observers and press standing and watching them.
From an article on how the Florida process works - "The task of sorting through ballots will fall to counting teams, designated by county canvassing boards. The teams will include at least two people, who should represent different political affiliations, and will be closely watched by lawyers for each candidate. If a counting team cannot agree on a voter’s intention, or if the lawyers object to the team’s decision, the ballot in question will go before the full canvassing board."
Yes, I saw (probably) the same media coverage that you saw, however what I did not see was the examiners writing anything. (They may have, however I didn't see that).
What was very clear was that the examiners, under the watchful eye of lawyers, SORTED the ballots. What would clarify that is if we were to see the tally sheets done by the sorters.
I'd anticipate that those (a long series of slashmarks, check marks on two (al least) pieces of paper would then be summed. I'm only saying that I did not see that, and the article that you quoted only seemed to address the sorting.
@BobE - Got you. My perspective is that usually it's the intent of each individual vote that is questioned, and not whether they added them up correctly once that is determined and identified. Not tallying the individual vote when it is cast would be not correctly identifying it.
specifically the answer offered by mharr. Particularily attention to the comments on his answer where I've tried to refine his answer. I don't want mharr to get in any trouble (relative to his job as an election official) that's why I've not furthered my conversation. Interested in your remarks (if any)
@PoloHoleSet. BTW, see this at 1:02 youtube.com/watch?v=0kQb5CKonbo. In the background appears to be vote examiners. the Cobb County Director then goes on to explain that after the votes have been placed in bins,
then the ballots in those bins are counted. (I assume that the counting could be done by hand or machine, she doesn't specify). Interesting that the reporter goes on the say that some counts could be different (from previous??), with those changes attributed to human error.
Finally found an answer to my question "how are ballots being "recounted" see youtube.com/watch?v=ATRmSrMjXJM at 1:12 reporter says they are using page counting machines to count the sorted ballots. Then at 1:38 appears to show the actual ballot counter.
I will check that stuff out and loop back. In regards to counting, I'm going to make an assumption that they have an official count of "ballots in" that are going to be compared, in total, to the ballot counting outputs.
Discussion on answer by BobE: Georgia…
Discussion on answer by BobE: Georgia…