Counting votes — and building trust
Elections do not earn public trust because officials insist the system worked.
They earn trust when officials openly explain what went wrong, how it was corrected and what will be done to prevent the same problem from happening again.
That lesson should already be painfully familiar in Weston County.
The turmoil surrounding the 2024 election and former Weston County clerk Becky Hadlock did lasting damage to public confidence in the county’s election process. Hadlock was not forthcoming with information requested by the press or the public — or even by the governor. Questions went unanswered, explanations were incomplete, and concerns were allowed to grow in the absence of clear information.
Hadlock’s subsequent legal troubles and resignation only deepened that distrust.
Fairly or not, today’s election officials inherited the consequences. Every unexplained problem is now viewed through the lens of what happened previously. Every delay raises suspicion, and every incomplete answer leaves room for speculation.
That is why the hand count in the Precinct 5-1 Republican committeeman race deserves attention. Readers can find an explanation of what happened and how the ballots were handled in the Page 1 story in this week’s News Letter Journal.
The broader issue is what election officials and the public should learn from it.
A problem with how a race was prepared or counted does not automatically mean anyone attempted to manipulate an election. Human beings prepare ballots, program equipment and administer elections. Human beings sometimes make mistakes.
But dismissing questions about those mistakes is also unacceptable.
When voting equipment does not handle a contest as intended, voters have every right to ask what happened. They should be able to ask which ballots were affected, how a hand count was conducted, who observed it, and whether every legally cast vote was properly included.
Those are not attacks. They are not proof that someone believes election workers are dishonest. They are the basic questions necessary to verify an election result.
Given Weston County’s recent history, officials should expect more scrutiny, not less.
The public deserves a straightforward timeline, an explanation of the correction, and an account of the safeguards that will be added before the next election. If a mistake occurred, say so plainly. If the results are accurate, show voters why they can have confidence in them.
The public also has responsibilities.
Questions should be based on facts, and concerns should not be transformed into accusations of misconduct without evidence. An election error justifies scrutiny, but it
does not justify automatically assuming fraud. Election workers deserve to be treated fairly while their procedures and decisions are examined.
That is the third side of this issue: Election officials should not treat reasonable questions as personal attacks, and voters should not treat every mistake as evidence of corruption.
A hand count can be a valuable safeguard. In this case, it provided a way to address a problem involving the voting equipment.
But the count itself is only part of rebuilding confidence. The public must also understand what happened and why the correction can be trusted.
Weston County cannot afford a repeat of the secrecy and frustration that followed the 2024 election. Silence, defensiveness and incomplete explanations will only reinforce the belief that officials are hiding something — even when they are not.
The people now responsible for Weston County’s elections did not create this distrust. But they are responsible for deciding how they respond to it.
Transparency is not an admission that an election failed. It is how officials demonstrate that safeguards worked and how they make those safeguards stronger for the future.
Every vote should be counted correctly. Every problem and correction should be explained openly. Every reasonable question should receive a respectful, factual answer.
That is how elections are protected.
More important, that is how trust is rebuilt.
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