Members of the public were invited to the Kenton County Board of Elections Saturday to see how the voting machines work — a move Gabe Summe said was to combat worries about cover fraud and security breaches ahead of the May primary.
Summe, the chair of the board of elections and the county clerk, planned the demonstration earlier this month as a way to actively display how secure the voting process will be.
At the presentation, Summe gave a complete breakdown of the voting machines, their modems, how they store the voting information, how they are counted and how they are unable to connect to wifi.
“If someone was to question the voting count, our machines have a backup paper trail,” Summe said.
Paper ballots are a required evidence trail in Kentucky Law 118.025, which states that, “Voting in all primaries and elections shall be by secret paper ballot.”
Wifi connection through voting machines is where concern for possible fraudulent voting arises in the public, but, Summe said, Kenton County’s voting machines do not have the capabilities to connect to wifi.
Summe handed out informational packets about the specific voting machines Kenton County uses (the DS200), showing voters how to identify if the voting machines have a modem. A modem allows for wifi connection. The two methods listed for voters to identify the voting machines are a visual inspection and a configuration report.
The visual inspection shows voting machines with a modem board, a SIM card, and a power board switch. The DS200 without a modem has only a power switchboard without a modem.
The DS200 scanner prints a configuration report with security protocols after being opened. This report indicates if a modem is present. Each machine prints a configuration report each time it is turned on and activated for voting.
The DS200 voting machines allow voting to occur digitally, followed by a printed ballot of the information put in the machine. After the machine prints the voter’s ballot, they can scan their ballot information. After the ballot is cast, there is an encrypted hard drive where the voting information is stored in rare cases of a recount or any interference.
Jeannine Bell Smith, a member of the Crescent Springs Council, was in attendance at the demonstration.
“Voting has improved over the years. I don’t have to think about a choice being made for my ballot,” Smith said regarding previous election ballots where the fill-in-the-bubble method was the standard ballot method. This ballot method has been controversial for being misread when counted due to the small font and ballot indicators.
The DS200 allows for an voting method where voters can see their options in a large font on a large screen. There, it is printed immediately for voters to see what they are casting their vote towards before they submit it.
The digitization of voting with the DS200 allows for a routine and clear system, Summe said, where mistakes on ballots are minimized, and outside interference is non-existent due to systems having no modem.