I agree with @monsterhunter45 that we're not doing the level of auditing on elections that we do routinely for other things. But he's leaving out the main reason: anonymity. https://twitter.com/monsterhunter45/status/1346262326832373760

I've been audited. A gov't employee came into my cubicle and wanted the number of the contract I was charging my time to. Other auditors have wanted to know how I obtained the data in my charts.

For voting, I'd have someone from the gov't wanting to know how I voted for each office on my ballot. Do that for everyone in my precinct and they can verify what the voting machines reported.

Since it's a government report, my votes would be on record for anyone wanting to FOIA the audit results.

We have a very strong tradition against making people's votes public. The secret ballot lets people vote without fear of retaliation from supporters of the other side.

That "ooh, ooh!" you hear is a tech expert wanting to explain how the blockchain or other cryptographic tools could make voting both secure and anonymous.

They're right. But it wouldn't be easy any more. The more work you make people do to vote, the more will say "heck with it" and skip election day.

"Fast, cheap, good, pick two" is a common design choice. For voting, it's "easy, secure, anonymous, pick two."

It doesn't help that the question of how easy to make voting has become a partisan issue.

I do want secure elections. But in discussing that we have to face the tradeoffs. I'm willing to say who I voted for--but I'm not willing to give up on secret ballots for everyone.