Election Tech

Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar is asking state lawmakers for approximately $30 million to help aid in establishing a statewide voter registration database that would modernize the way elections are administered.

The nation’s top cybersecurity leaders are warning state and local election officials of ongoing foreign and domestic national security threats to election systems, urging them to upgrade their defenses.

Making effective open source election software is one thing. Removing barriers to its use is another and means addressing concerns around liability, troubleshooting and certification.

Proponents say open source elections tech means new security features and transparency. What does it take to harness the helpful volunteer contributions, block out malicious saboteurs and keep these projects maintained for the long term?

State lawmakers approved the requirement — which attracted little attention or debate — in their massive overhaul of the state’s voting laws during a 2021 special Legislative session.

Local Republicans say the electronic voting system being used may have counted more votes than were actually cast in the 2022 election, despite the Dallas County Elections Department’s saying that is not the case.

A pilot test of new ballot counting machines in one of three New Hampshire towns failed, according to Secretary of State David Scanlan. The new machines were being tested as replacements for existing obsolete technology.

A display issue that led to complaints from some voters in Berks County, Pa., that they had trouble selecting their preferred candidate on electronic voting machines during the 2022 general election may soon be rectified.

Despite using facial recognition technology to identify criminal suspects nearly 2,000 times last year, findings from the LAPD inspector general's office show that the department has no way to track the technology’s outcomes or effectiveness.

Attacks on state and local systems didn't let up in the last quarter of 2022, while governments nationwide prepared to keep the Nov. 8 elections secure and free from the influence of mis- and disinformation.

Election-related disinformation built on strategies tested in 2020, and its believers remain a strong community, those watching the space say. Though voters rejected many election denier candidates, there is still cause for concern.

Secretary of State-elect Wes Allen has announced his intention to withdraw from the Electronic Registration Information Center, a collaboration between 33 states aimed at cross-checking voter registration data.

White House Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall said this week that the recent midterm elections did not see significant, disruptive attacks against election infrastructure.

A vote tabulation glitch in Arizona’s Maricopa County and an attempted takedown of voter-facing websites in Mississippi prompted a flurry of election misinformation and efforts from officials to set the record straight.

The Mercer County Commission allocated money the day after Election Day to replace the county's voting machines with a new system. The funding comes from the American Rescue Plan and Coal Severance Tax.

Falsehoods are likely to proliferate as voters await final results of Tuesday's election, but efforts to communicate heavily about the process — and to explain any Election Day hiccups — can help, experts say.

As officials attempt to assuage fears of election impropriety fueled by mis- and disinformation, the state’s Department of Public Safety is cracking down on phone-based scams to steal voters’ personal data.

Following technical problems that forced a return to paper poll books in the May primary election, officials in Berks County, Pa., are putting electronic poll books through their paces ahead of the general election.