The secretary of state

 

Imagine an electronic voting system as an opaque black tube with you on one end, entering your vote. The other end sits on your secretary of state’s desk. What happens to your vote while it travels from one end of the tube to the other is anyone’s guess, but once it arrives on the secretary of state’s desk, he or she is in charge of it.

The secretary of state is, in many states, an elected position. It is a stepping stone to a run for a governorship or seat in Congress. Candidates for the job have party affiliations, political agendas, and the same bizarre personal motivations that seem to afflict every political operator. They are fallible and corruptible, and they are in charge of ensuring your vote goes where it belongs.