Photo: Staff personnel Dan Cane check the towns’ voting machines.

If Russian president Vladimir Putin was thinking about tinkering with another US election, he should stay clear of Belmont. On Monday, Aug. 27, the town’s eight precinct ballot boxes were found to be secure and working correctly during the state-required inspection before each and every town election.

Monday’s Election machine testing was conducted before the Sept. 4, state party primary election. Belmont Town Clerk Ellen Cushman and her staff inspected the machines and ran draft ballots for each of the three parties that voters can obtain ballots; that would be Republican, Democratic and Libertarian parties. The machines then tally the “results” and the data is sent to the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office to verify the devices are state certified. 

Because the town uses paper ballots, the only way Putin (or anyone else) can tamper with election results is by showing up and try to vote in person. But as Cushman informed the Belmontonian, most of the election officials work in the precinct where they live, so it’s unlikely “Putie” would be able to slide by the first level of security. 

Town Clerk Ellen Cushman and staff member Dan Cane making sure the Belmont voting machines are Putin-proof.

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