Electronic pollbook security raises concerns in 2024

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ATLANTA (AP) They were blamed for long lines in Los Angeles during Californias 2020 presidential primary, triggered check-in delays in Columbus, Ohio, months later and became the focus of former President Donald Trump’s call for to supporters who protested in Detroit last November’s midterms.

High-profile problems involving electronic pollbooks have opened the door for election conspiracies and underscored the critical role technology plays if voting is to run smoothly. Russia and Iran have already shown interest in accessing the systems.

Despite their importance and potential weaknesses, national standards for the security and reliability of electronic pollbooks do not exist and the efforts being made to develop them may not be ready or widely adopted in time for in the 2024 presidential election.

We have a trust issue in the election. The more we can say there are standards against which equipment should be tested, the better, said Larry Norden, an election security expert at the Brennan Center for Justice. It’s like a stamp of approval that really doesn’t exist right now.

Poll workers use electronic pollbooks to check in voters. They are usually a tablet or laptop computer that accesses an electronic list of registered voters with names, addresses and precinct information, some of which do so through an internet connection.

Testing standards and a certification program for voting machines have been in place for years, a process overseen by the US Election Assistance Commission. Although compliance is voluntary, most states will use at least some aspect of the federal process to ensure that their voting and ballot counting machines are safe and functioning properly.

But there is a broader system of technology that supports US elections that goes beyond the devices used to scan and record votes from electronic pollbooks to voter registration databases and systems that used to report unofficial election results to the public. Their use has been expanding rapidly in recent years.

Nearly one-third of all US voting jurisdictions used electronic pollbooks in 2020, compared with about 18% four years ago, according to data collected by the Election Assistance Commission.

These systems have unique security challenges.

In 2016, Russian hackers scanned state voter registration systems looking for vulnerabilities and even accessed the Illinois voter registration database, although an investigation later determined that no data of the voter was manipulated. In 2020, Iranian hackers obtained confidential voter data and used it to send fraudulent emails to voters, aiming to spread false information and influence the election.

Experts say the systems could once again become prime targets for those seeking to disrupt the voting process and sow chaos in US elections. Having access to a voter registration database, for example, could allow someone to remove voters from the rolls. When people show up to vote, they are told they are not on the list.

Although those voters will be allowed to cast a provisional ballot that will eventually be counted, widespread problems with the voter registration database will prompt questions about a process that has lost public confidence following of the ongoing campaign by Trump and his allies to discredit the results of the 2020 presidential election. There is no evidence of widespread fraud or manipulation of voting equipment in 2020, supported by exhaustive reviews of the states Trump lost.

In Detroit in November, some polling locations experienced a brief issue with voter verification related to a data error that was quickly identified and resolved. Trump covered earlier reports, calling the situation in Detroit REALLY BAD in a social media post and urging people to Protest, Protest, Protest!

Unlike voting machines that are not directly connected to the internet, many electronic pollbook systems are connected by design. Some are quite sophisticated.

In counties that have implemented a voting center model, where registered voters can vote at any polling place, electronic pollbooks must communicate with each other and with a central system. That’s to make sure voters can’t vote at multiple locations or vote in person after returning a mail-in ballot.

Although this can present significant security challenges, scrutiny for pollbook systems is not as consistent as that of voting machines.

The lack of national standards has left state and local election officials on their own. For the 2020 election, 15 states, including Arizona, Florida and Nevada, do not require any kind of electronic pollbook testing or certification, according to federal data.

States and even some counties often test their pollbook systems in isolation and the results are not routinely shared an information gap that could be addressed in a national testing program.

Having that kind of knowledge allows them to put compensation controls in place, but they do it on an individual state-by-state, county-by-county basis, said Ryan Macias, an election and security expert. which advises federal, state and local officials.

Aware of the risks, many election officials require back-up measures, such as paper copies of voter lists at polling locations. Election officials and experts note that one advantage of national testing standards for voting machines is the ability to assure voters that they have been properly tested.

Two efforts are underway that aim to address the lack of uniform testing standards for electronic pollbooks. The Election Assistance Commission has partnered with the nonprofit Center for Internet Security to test pollbooks and other nonvoting machine technologies. But the federal agency began work on its pilot testing program in late 2021, around the same time the center announced the results of the first phase of its own project.

It is unclear why the two groups broke up and what will happen next. A spokesman for the center, Jay Billington, said the group is nearing completion of the pilot and expects to provide an update soon.

Thomas Hicks, chairman of the commission, said the agency is moving forward with its own pilot program, but likely won’t put testing standards in place before the 2024 election.

But this is why we are moving forward, he said. In 2026, there will be another federal election, and in 2028 another.

Hicks said he welcomes the work the center has done and thinks having more than one testing program could allow states to choose the best option for them.

Experts say having national testing standards would go a long way to reducing the costs of the systems and reducing the burden on state and local election officials to navigate security on their own. Equipment companies have expressed support for the effort.

At a November 2021 panel hosted by the commission to discuss its pilot project, representatives from testing laboratories said they had reviewed 76 different pollbooks by about a dozen manufacturers in the past which is three years. Agency officials noted that the stakes were high.

Real or perceived attacks on our voting systems could threaten voter confidence, said one commissioner, Don Palmer, during the panel. So that’s one reason why we think as much testing as possible is a good thing.

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