I've said this so many times before but I now have a new metaphor to offer so I'll repeat it one more time.
Why should anybody trust the announced results of elections if there is absolutely no way to verify that each vote was counted, counted the way it was voted, that no fraudulent votes were included, that legitimate votes were not excluded. Perhaps most important of all, verification is necessary to ensure that the time honored, old fashioned method of stealing elections, stuffing the ballot box, has not been practiced, and of course mail-in voting has made this easier than ever, not to mention all the flaws of electronic voting.
There have been many technical solutions proposed but with half the population in denial of the problem they have little chance of being adopted, even though the most fundamental basis of a democracy is being able to trust the vote counts.
METAPHOR
Imagine you go to a grocery store and get rung up by a clerk that you believe has made mistakes in the past. You get your total and you say
“this seems kind of high, can I see the receipt”
That same clerk that you already don't trust and believe has made mistakes in the past says to you
“we don't give receipts”
“Well then how can I know this total is accurate”
“Just trust”
—
A recipe for chaos..