Chapter 6 - Security of the Vote

With the advent of electronic voting, people have been more and more concerned about the integrity of the vote and less trustworthy of the equipment used to count their ballots. This segment takes you through the components of the layered security system used at Tower Road to create a safe, transparent and secure vote counting environment. So what kinds of security measures are in place? * Physical—armed and alarmed access to the warehouse, security badges for all personnel that restrict access to certain areas, security cameras, visitor control (badges, sign-in and out procedures and escorts to any part of the secure areas). * Testing—thorough testing of all components of the voting system, including both kinds of testing: functional testing and the Logic & Accuracy testing (L&A). The L&A assures us that the voting equipment is counting the votes as it should. Its fed a series of pre-marked ballots with a known outcome. Every kind of vote is tested including undervotes (otherwise known as no votes) and different combinations of voting choices. The equipment is tested in all three languages as well. * Procedures—the addition of tamper-evident seals, security locks, and a barcode log-in system to track the movement of all voting equipment components and supplies, a requirement that all staff and poll workers conduct business in front of another colleague—otherwise known as the two-person integrity rule. * Software—the voting equipment software has a built-in security system that requires two-people with security clearance and a special access key in order to make ANY changes to the system, its files or the process of counting the votes. Every action is recorded in audit logs that list the users, date, time and action undertaken by the certified election official. A post-election hash-test confirmation is conducted to confirm that the software used on Election Day was, in fact, the certified software approved by the Secretary of State for use in that election. * Personnel—background checks are run on the staff hired to work at the Elections Office.

No single security measure is enough to protect the vote, but the layering of all these measures makes it very difficult to compromise the outcome of an election. Were not saying it cant be donewere saying it would be hard to do.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Election
• Elections
• election
• procedures
• november
• presidential