Monthly Archives: February 2023

Benefits of Election Systems & Software

Data Visibility, Elections, Security, , ,

The ability to effectively manage your election infrastructure throughout the election cycle is absolutely critical. Over the last several years, the industry has seen a tremendous transformation in supply chain and logistics technology. Essential components like easy asset tracking and seamless system integration lay the foundation for effective election infrastructure. With Wireless Data Systems (WDS), we have proudly become the nation’s leader in software and hardware solutions with TSX™ Election Supply Chain.

The reality is that it is easy to feel uncomfortable about accountability when critical items from an election cycle are at remote locations, in transit to and from a remote location, and the chain of custody is passing between multiple personnel. Luckily, TSX™ Election Solutions is able to fill all of those invisible gaps with complete real-time visibility. TSX™ Election Solutions

From the moment the critical items leave the four walls of your facility, TSX™ Election Solutions is reporting back individual sightings and transactions as your staff members move through their tasks. When the assets and/or items are delivered to the polling sites, the TSX™ Election Solutions module validates the correct location and updates in the location of the items in real-time.

The TSX™ Election Solutions dashboard provides the following information:

  • Immediate visibility with the user that executed the delivery
  • The items involved in the delivery
  • The exact date/time of the transaction

In addition to TSX™ Election Solutions tracking “everything” leaving the main facilities and their current field locations, specific items may be flagged in the system as “Critical”. The ability to flag items in the system plays an enormous role in security and efficiency. On Election Night, when the polling sites close, these critical items are high priority for the system and management dashboards are on alert for critical item sightings and validation.

The ENR (Election Night Receiving) module and the Election Night Dashboard work together to update the system in real-time when they are moved from the polling site to the election night collection centers. In many scenarios, the election night collection centers are strategically located facilities manned with the department’s staff. The department staff may be charged with the accounting for the successful delivery of the “Critical” items. These “Critical” times often include:

  • Voted ballots
  • Thumb or media drives
  • Tabulators
  • Signature documents or forms

As the highest priority assets and items are accounted for, the TSX™ Election Night Dashboard displays real-time updates for each polling site/precinct combination. This technology is unmatched, making for revolutionary strides in election infrastructure solutions.

Finally, post-election night, or concurrently on election night, the non-critical assets, items, and materials expected back to your main facility are retrieved via the TSX™ POP (Proof of Pickup). As with all aspects of the TSX™ Election Solutions, the POP transactions are recorded in real-time and automatically update dashboards. To complete the accountability and full chain-of-custody cycle, the WAR (Warehouse Asset Recovery) module is used by the warehouse staff to receive the items from the POP teams back into the main facility.

From start to finish, WDS provides superior election systems infrastructure management. The complete chain of custody of your assets paired with real-time visibility throughout the election cycle keeps your election-critical items completely secure

Ballot and Asset Chain of Custody: The Foundation for Election Security, Recounts, and Audits

Elections, Security, Supply Chain, , ,

Much of the discussion around election security has been focused – and justly so – on cybersecurity. From electronic voting machines to jump drives and even communications, cybercrime is a real threat to democracy. Efforts to address cybercrime hacking is only part of a complete election security program. The program should also include systems and protocols for handling election assets, particularly ballots.

In addition to cybersecurity, the key to election securityTSX™ Elections Supply Chain, timely election conclusion, and smooth audits and recounts is leveraging technology through systematic ballot and asset tracking, backed by chain of custody visibility, and process management enforcement.

ELECTION SECURITY THROUGH PHYSICAL SECURITY

Physical assets are potential access points to cybersecurity; therefore, security and protection of these physical elements (voting systems, ballots, memory devices, etc.) remains critical to maintaining a secure, but open election process.

According to The U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC), physical election security refers “to standards, procedures, and actions taken to protect voting systems and related facilities and equipment from natural and environmental hazards, tampering, vandalism, and theft.” (Election Management Guidelines Chapter 3: Physical Security. EAC.)

A physical security approach should begin with a collective review of each county’s current elections procedures and processes. This includes chain-of-custody procedures and inventory control/asset management. Every touch-point should be reviewed to ensure ballots and assets are secured and tracked throughout the entire election cycle.

The review will likely identify potential gaps where chain of custody, oversight, and human error can lead to a security breach. These gaps should be addressed with a combination of physical security tactics (access, cameras, tamper-proof seals, etc.), documented policies and procedures, and an elections-specific system to help manage, control, and provide visibility to every election-critical asset and process.

TIMELY ELECTION CONCLUSION

At the conclusion of an election, ballots should be validated and properly secured. Election equipment must be accounted for, sealed, and returned. If using thumb drives, it is critical these are properly processed to ensure a timely and accurate tabulation. Every county should have a systematic way to know when these assets are returned from voting precincts in real-time. A dashboard is an ideal way for elections administrators – and even secretaries of state offices – to track and identify any precincts with issues or delayed results.

Closely managing the supply chain and logistics of voted ballots and tabulation data, will not only encourage public trust, but also ensure an efficient uneventful post-election. This includes initial results tabulation reporting and post-election audits and recounts.

As the US population is expected to grow by 15-20 million by the year 2025, there will be roughly 250,000,000 people of voting age. A constantly growing population increases strain on current elections now in resources and technology to help manage election conclusion.

AUDITS AND RECOUNTS

Close elections may require tabulated ballots to be efficiently and accurately recounted. The requirements for accurate election results demand that ballots are in the correct location at the proper time, without questions to their authenticity. If questions arise, it is important to have complete chain of custody history for ballots, tabulators, and all critical assets.

In the 2018 General, Florida was faced with a statewide recount. Miami-Dade, the state’s largest county, was able to quickly conduct a timely and successful recount due largely to accurate and accessible data stored by a system that accounted for every ballot, its location, and full chain of custody history.

BALLOT AND ASSET TRACKING

According to the EAC, election officials should maintain an accurate inventory including the following:

• Voting devices (including thumb drives)
• Administrator and ballot activation devices
• Seal envelopes
• Voter registration (poll) lists
• Election result tapes and printouts
• Field supervisor and rover reports
• Poll worker daily logs
• Reconciliation reports
• Audit data
• Voting Equipment Delivery Sheets

This is an extensive list that necessitates the use of technology to manage and store data. For example, consider the average ballot can be handled by over 20 different people through the lifespan from ballot printing through the election and ultimately stored and retrieved for audits.

Every movement should be tracked and logged. The log data must be accessible to help address any issues in a timely fashion.

PROCESS MANAGEMENT ENFORCEMENT

Even if every county in your state has implemented the EAC’s best-practices, physical elections security will still fail without process management enforcement. Consider the following inherent challenges constantly faced by election departments:

• Ensuring bipartisan, 2-deep teams at every ballot touch-point
• Managing turnover in warehouse, transportation, and other logistical staff
• Recruiting and training poll workers where poll worker population remains skewed toward older Americans

Enforcement of physical security processes requires diligent effort on behalf of the entire election department. The most-effective way to keep everyone on task is to implement a system that will make it easy – even for the newly hired or physically challenged personnel – to follow correct procedures. An elections-specific system will ensure the appropriate and correct number of individuals complete every process task while maintaining a log of every transaction. If a process is not completed per policy, the system sends notifications so that parties can remedy or mitigate the situation in a timely manner. A properly implemented system can prevent a process failure from becoming a security breach.

Lastly, an elections-specific system will assist with contingency policies as a result of elections disruptions such as voter turnout variances, equipment failures, and even natural disasters. A real-world example is having a voting machine go down at one precinct. This can quickly have a domino effect throughout other precincts if there is no systematic way to repair or replace it on the fly. Every county should have a system in place that would notify, locate, and reroute the appropriate personnel and equipment to mitigate the impact of the unforeseen.

Visibility into every aspect of the election cycle is critical to security. Having a comprehensive set of procedures is only the first step of protection. In order to maintain public trust, every procedure must be validated. Every ballot and physical asset movement must be tracked and logged. That data must be available in real-time and readily accessible to address issues and any resulting media or citizen inquiries.

Challenges in knowing the location and integrity of ballots and critical assets at any point in time can be avoided through planning and use of systems designed specifically for election logistics and security. A statewide implementation of such a system can help standardize and enforce processes, save in administrative costs, and most importantly, improve overall elections security.