When you buy a car, you have some reasonable expectation that the car will be safe to drive because manufacturers are required to perform a series of standard tests by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

When an airline buys an airplane, and when you fly on that airplane, we can reasonably expect that that airplane is safe to fly because the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulates airplane designs, manufacturing, and even the airworthiness of individual airplanes, maintenance schedules etc.

So, this November, when you fill out your ballot and insert into a precinct tabulator, or when you fill out a ballot at home and mail it to be counted at county headquarters, how do you know that the voting equipment your county is any good? And when the county was buying that equipment, how did they know? Who’s doing the due diligence?

How Voting Works is a limited series podcast made by VotingWorks, the only non-profit maker of voting machines in the US.

Questions and comments are always welcome. Email us at how@voting.works

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