(Frankfort, KY) The Kentucky State Board of Elections (SBE) met today and re-examined voting systems from three voting system vendors: Election Systems and Software, Hart InterCivic, and Premier
Election Solutions. All three systems were recertified by a unanimous vote of the State Board upon the recommendation of the state’s voting system examiners team consisting of a county clerk, an expert in computer science, and a person who is knowledgeable in election procedures and law in Kentucky.
“The State Board of Elections followed the laws established during the tenure of Former Secretary Frances Jones Mills and updated during the tenure of my predecessor, Secretary John Y. Brown, III for the certification of voting systems,” commented Grayson. “An independent team of examiners issued a report stating that the systems met all of the requirements of state law when used for its intended purpose in accordance with state and federal law. The State Board of Elections also found that the systems met all of those requirements.”
Kentucky law states that “a system shall be approved” if the examiners report and the State Board of Elections finds that a system meets all of the requirements set forth by statutes governing the requirements for approval of voting systems. Those requirements include twelve specific points and include the requirement that each system be certified by the Federal Election Commission.
The three vendors manufacture voting systems that are currently in use in all 120 counties and range from Direct Recoding Equipment to Optical-Scan systems. To view a list of voting systems used in each county, visit: http://www.elect.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/4384AC60-AD8F-497F-B62E-EA3E4625618F/88481/VotingEquipmentbyCounty8206.pdf
“These systems not only meet Kentucky standards, but they also meet applicable federal standards,” remarked Grayson.
According to Kentucky law, the state certifies voting systems for use in Kentucky. Local officials, including Fiscal Courts and County Clerks, however, are solely responsible for the purchase and maintenance, respectively, of voting systems within the county.
According to the decision by the State Board of Elections today, local county officials can continue to use these voting systems, because they meet federal and state requirements set by law.
The following systems were re-certified by the State Board of Elections:
1. The ES&S Unity 3.0.1.1 Amendment A Suite (which includes the iVotetronic)
2. The Hart Intercivic System 6.2.1
3. The Premier Election Solutions GEMS 1.18.24, AccuVote-OS Models A, B, C, and D with firmware version 1.96.6 AccuVote-TSX DRE model A, B, C or D with firmware version 4.6.4, Voter Card Encoder 1.3.2, AccuVote-OS Central count firmware version 2.0.12, Key Card Tool 4.6.1, and VCP Programmer 4.6.1.
The State Board of Elections also received a report on how to further strengthen election security from Attorney General Greg Stumbo, who addressed the Board. In General Stumbo’s presentation, he stated that the report was “not in any way meant to be critical. … It is simply a report that shows some of the concerns that we have.”
General Stumbo also stated that compared to ten or fifteen years ago, Kentucky elections are “cleaner”, and attributed much of the reason for this to the increased level of cooperation among all parties. Finally, Stumbo noted that he believes that Jefferson County’s use of a voting system not certified by the state was “just an oversight” by the county and its vendor.
Please note that the Office of the Attorney General’s press release erroneously stated that Premier submitted the wrong voting system for review. In fact, Premier stated at today’s meeting that the version of the voting system that will be used in Jefferson County in this November’s election was submitted and reviewed by examiners and then re-certified by the State Board of Elections.
In addition, the Attorney General incorrectly asserted in his report and press release that had the State Board followed its own procedures during HAVA implementation, it would have discovered that Jefferson County was using an uncertified voting system. That is incorrect because the Jefferson County optical scan voting systems were not purchased with HAVA funds. The Attorney General was reminded of this fact in a letter dated August 30, 2007. Therefore, no documentation was required to be sent to the State Board of Elections. State procedures were followed.
“Despite errors in his report, I appreciate General Stumbo approaching the Board in a spirit of cooperation. In his comments to the media, he insisted that there is ‘no cause for alarm’ by the public. I agree with him. I also agree that we can always take additional preventive steps, and I look forward to working with him in order to further improve Kentucky’s election process,” stated Secretary Grayson.
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