Boulder County Releases Election Security Report

BOULDER COUNTY, CO — As President Trump continues to question the security of mail-in voting in many states, Colorado elections officials have been issuing reassurances that their mail-in voting systems are secure and efficient. The Boulder County Clerk and Recorder's Office Elections Division has released a community briefing that outlines the measures that are underway to "identify and mitigate the constantly evolving threats to election security," officials said.

Boulder County Clerk and Recorder Molly Fitzpatrick said her team has partnered with federal and state agencies, as well as the private sector, to strengthen its security.

“Our team’s mission is to conduct elections centered on accessibility, accuracy, efficiency, and security for all our citizens,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement released Wednesday.

“Colorado has always been recognized as a national leader in election security. In the briefing, I wanted to detail how at the state and local level we have prioritized security throughout our operations in order to protect and affirm our most sacred right as Americans.

"Our goal with this report is to ensure that our community understands the actions we are undertaking to ensure the integrity of our elections and to protect voter information. We have also outlined critical steps a voter can take to be a partner with us in these efforts.”

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The Election Security Community Briefing outlines 'three pillars' of Boulder County’s election security posture: the Colorado Election model, Leveraging Strategic Partnerships, and Boulder County's Cybersecurity Program.

Some highlights of the report:

• All equipment in vote centers is secured with chain-of-custody seals and systematically tracked, officials said. After hours, the rooms are securely locked and voting equipment is sealed.
• The signature on each mail ballot envelope is reviewed and compared to the signature(s) on file in the voter’s registration record. If a discrepancy is found, the voter is notified and has a window of time to rectify (or “cure”) the issue in order to have their ballot counted. If a voter does not respond, the ballot is not counted, and the case is turned over to the district attorney for investigation.

• Each 24-hour ballot drop box is under 24-hour video surveillance from the time the box opens for voter ballot return until it is closed at the end of an election, officials said. All boxes remain locked throughout the election period, accessed only by bipartisan teams for ballot collection. All ballot processing areas of the Boulder County office are under surveillance 24-hours a day.
• To ensure no tampering takes place, chain-of-custody is carefully documented and maintained for each vote center laptop (used to access the Secretary of State’s voter database, assign vote credit and print ballots), ballot marking devices and printers, and each ballot box, including all containers used to collect ballots from 24-hour boxes on a regular schedule during the election.
• The Secretary of State uses a voter registration database, known as 'SCORE,' which requires all registrants to prove their identity using a multi-factor identification process.
• All counties are required to comply with state-established requirements for anti-virus and malware detection software installed on systems accessing the voter registration database.
• Data is imported from the Colorado Department of Revenue (motor vehicle), Colorado Department of Health (death records), United States Postal Service (change of address), law enforcement agencies (felony convictions), the Federal SAVE database (naturalization/derived citizenship), and other sources to ensure voter information is accurate and only eligible voters receive a ballot.
• Voting system software is only issued by the state through a “trusted build” process. A "strict and documented chain-of-custody process is followed for all voting system devices," officials said. Software is installed on the hardware by designated state or voting system staff. Boulder County performs "rigorous quality assurance procedures once a trusted build is installed, processing thousands of test ballot scenarios to verify accurate tabulation results," officials said.

>> Read the full Election Security Community Briefing here.