What Happens Now?

From a Local Election Administrator’s Viewpoint

State and County/CityDifferences

• STATES– Population– Number of counties

• Elected or appointed election officials

– Number of SOS staff– Budget $$$– Testing/Certification

process– Statutory authority

• COUNTIES/CITIES– Population– Number of FT staff– Budget $$$– Other

responsibilities– Availability of IT

support– Reliance on vendors

Questions

That Need To Be Answered

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• How do we know what is certified?• How do we know how it was tested?• How do we know that what we received

at our office is the certified version?• Should we perform our own testing?

– If so, what should we test, and how?

• How can we best secure/safeguard the system?

• How do we stay informed, i.e. new version releases?

• How can we best educate our voters and our elected officials?

How do we know what is certified?• Vendors need to routinely notify their

customers of current certified software and hardware.

• Vendors need to communicate information regarding new version releases.

• States need to maintain a listing of all state certified systems, including specific software/hardware components.

• EAC needs to maintain a repository of information relating to all voting systems.

How do we know how it was tested?

• Keep it Simple!!• Standard operating procedures should

include distribution of all test lab operating procedures and test lab reports.

• Vendor’s request for state certification should routinely include distribution of these reports.

• State certification procedures/results should be communicated to local election administrators.

How do we know that what we received is the certified version?

• At a minimum new version releases should routinely be distributed by testing labs directly to the state and/or counties.

Should we perform our own testing?

• First, we need to know exactly how the “system” was tested.

• Then we can determine if additional testing is necessary.

• Counties should routinely conduct an entire system test following installation of new software/hardware components.

• Counties need access to best practices and procedures for conducting these tests.

How can we best secure/safeguard the system?

• Keep it simple.

• Include operating procedures, i.e. tamper-resistant transfer cases, etc.

• Provide solutions to technology concerns.

• Share best practices and procedures.

• Partner with us to protect democracy.

How do we stay informed?

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

– Vendors to EAC, States, and Counties– EAC to States and Counties– States to individual Counties and state elected

officials– Local counties to their elected governing body,

to their staff, and to their voters

How can we educate voters and elected officials?

• Conduct office tours during election mode.• Distribute informational brochures.• Partner with League of Women Voters, area

Chambers of Commerce, etc.• Issue press releases announcing important

events, i.e. Logic and Accuracy testing.• Encourage public observation of the process.

Working Together Builds Success and Most Importantly - Trust

Continue to get better by building partnerships

• Vendors• Information Technology experts• Testing laboratories• EAC• States• Local Election Administrator• Shared information, resources, best practices