In March, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission spent two days evaluating Delaware County’s hash testing process on all of the equipment at the Elections Bureau at the Wharf in Chester as well as a random selection of devices at the county voting machine warehouse, also in Chester.
“The Delaware County Bureau of Elections’ voting system, facility security, and counting center procedures during the review appear to be comprehensive and thoroughly followed,” the Election Assistance Commission said in a report. “Therefore, the EAC can independently confirm that the software compared is equivalent to, and the hardware inspected is consistent with the Scope of Certification issued by the EAC.”
Hash testing, something that exceeds what is required by the state or federal requirements, simply tests the software on the county’s voting machines to make certain it meets the federal certification requirements.
As part of the evaluation, all of the central-count tabulation equipment at the Elections Bureau main office in Chester is reviewed and then another 5% of the precinct scanners and ballot-marking devices at the Voting Machine Warehouse are tested.
This software impacts both the scanners and touch writers in each of the 428 precincts as well as the county election services, spares and rover equipment. All in all, more than 1,000 pieces of equipment are touched by this software.
Delaware County Election Director James Allen explained that there is no room for error in the tests.
“Any change to the software is going to change the hash,” he said. “You can only have one good score and that’s 100%.”
If it’s 100.1 or 99.9, that’s considered a failure.
“It has to be a perfect match,” Allen said. “This is considered a best practice to try to rest assured that we’re checking on the validity of the software that there’s been no breach of any system, that nothing has been in any way shape or form been connected to a network.”
He said one of the reasons the U.S. Election Assistance Commission chose to evaluate Delaware County was because Delaware County is the only jurisdiction in Pennsylvania performing this test.
“They were hoping to examine it (and) use it to encourage other counties to perform hash testing,” Allen said.
He explained that the equipment vendor Delaware County uses, Hart Verity, has a method of hash testing. The first version was much more complicated than the current version, Hart Verity 2.7.
“You’re verifying that it has only the software that is certified for use and nothing less and nothing more,” Allen explained, noting that it makes certain there are no mission components or added components or malware.
“It’s worth taking the time,” he said. “It’s not an astronomical amount of time.”
Allen also explained that this is the first time the U.S. Election Assistance Commission has commended Delaware County.
“They arranged to visit us in March to actually see our hash testing and to write up a report, offer us suggestions in case they saw something that could be improved upon,” he said. “They had a suggestion on adding USB blockers so we’re going to do that on servers at the Wharf not that anything is under risk.”
The county does the hash testing every year.
In 2023, there was one piece of equipment that the hash did not match. Allen explained that that was right after a software update had occurred and Hart missed that machine, which had the previous version and had been randomly selected to be tested. This one piece of equipment was using the 2.3 version, rather than the 2.7 version.
The Elections Director explained that even without the hash testing, the issue would have surfaced anyway. He said when they went to load it, it wouldn’t have accepted the election database, signaling a problem.
“It’s a good exercise for the sake of good order,” Allen said of hash testing.
The county elections director said the hash testing is one more way before and after each election to make certain the software is 100% pure, and he appreciated the federal recognition.
“It’s one thing for Delaware County to take the steps that are recommended,” Allen said. “We’re gratified that it’s another thing for the federal government to come in and say you’re doing it right and this is something that other counties might want to explore. It’s very gratifying.”
Delaware County Councilmember Christine Reuther agreed.
“We are grateful for the EAC’s input and independent confirmation,” she said. “This validation reinforces the confidence voters can have in our process and recognizes the dedication of our election staff. Oversight and collaboration are essential, and Delaware County welcomes both as part of our ongoing commitment to secure, transparent, and trustworthy elections.”
©2025 Daily Times, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
