Trust is the wrong word. Confidence in the results is only possible thru mutual distrust. Meaning all belligerents recognize and honor the count. The gold sta

Trust is the wrong word. Confidence in the results is only possible thru mutual distrust. Meaning all belligerents recognize and honor the count. The gold standard for our Australian ballot (private voting, public counting) style system is paper ballots cast at poll sites, tabulated using optical scanners, with results posted publicly the moment the polls close. With postal ballots, the higher volume jurisdictions use image scanners. Think fax scanners with OCR software to identify the votes. Adjudication is done electronically, by updating the database. Further, many jurisdictions scan postal ballots as they are received, before election day, running daily summary reports. The fiction is that "final tabulation" is the final report. For postal ballots, signature verification is being automated. Computers automatically compare ballot's signature with voter's recorded signature. Back when I studied election integrity (20004 thru 2010), the error rate was ~10%, with no independent auditing or verification. For postal ballots, 1% are lost in transit. What the USPS calls UAA (undelivered as addressed). Meaning a fraction of voters are being silently disenfranchised every election.