>> What's important to rely on is the fact that people are able to verify that their own votes are consistent with what's in the public votes

> But will people do this at scale and do people trust that they do so? The latter is the most important.

Yes, absolutely. This is the most important, and that's what makes it all so easy! If you don't trust, verifying your own vote is a click away. If you think there's something fishy in your town, ping a few friends and ask them to verify. Journalists and international observers can sample a few thousand randomly chosen people and verify that the election is at least 99.9% accurate.

Because we all know that if journalists find even any pattern of people whose votes aren't getting counted, or were changed, it would be front-page national scandal news.

The whole process you're describing for physical polling places is a million times more work for any individual. It requires a massive amount of time and attention.

Meanwhile, with electronic/online voting, all you need to do is see if people are reporting discrepancies that hold up upon further investigation. If they're not, then it all works. I don't understand why you think people wouldn't trust this. It's dead simple.