Ballots should be recounted by hand

From the Oct. 16 Juneau Empire, attributed to the Juneau city clerk: "...she will recount the ballots by running them through the Accu-Vote machines again..."

• Photos

From a Google.com search, attributed to Benjamin Franklin: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

I may be missing something, but if the purpose of recounting the ballots is to insure an accurate result, why would those responsible for recounting the ballots use exactly the same technology that was used to count them originally? For the results to be accepted as valid, the ballots must be hand counted.

Phil Smith

Juneau