Editor’s note: Below is a press release a group of Virginian’s submitted to The T-Room regarding a lawsuit recently filed suing the Virginia State Board of Elections. The T-Room typically provides the name of the author and the media outlet from which we link too. Every now and then exceptions are made and this is such an exception. We know the volunteers. We’ve worked with the volunteers in the past and we know they wish to protect their anonymity. We’re happy to oblige.
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by Virginians Who Wish to Remain Anonymous
RICHMOND — A legal battle is brewing in Virginia as plaintiffs from the county of Waynesboro, VA argue the counting of votes by electronic voting machines owned by the Commonwealth, while using privately owned code that processes and tabulates every ballot cast in secret, is in direct violation of the Virginia Constitution.
The complaint was filed by the Chair and Vice-Chair of Waynesboro County Board of Elections against Susan Beals and John O’Bannon, M.D. in their official capacities with the Department and State Board of Elections.
The crux of the complaint stems from Article II, Section 3 of the Virginia Constitution which states “…In elections… Secrecy in casting votes shall be maintained…voting machine shall be kept in public view and shall not be opened, nor the ballots canvassed nor the votes counted, in secret.
As posited in the complaint, Waynesboro County Electoral Board follows the voting procedures outlined in the Virginia Department of Elections guidelines. The following policies are included in these guidelines:
- Machine-counted ballots are assumed to be correct.
- there are no regulations requiring election officials to verify the machines correctly counted the cast ballots.
- Election officials are prevented from comparing paper ballots to the machine-generated vote count as the physical ballots are, at no time, provided to the electoral board members.
Further, city and county board members are prohibited from reviewing all voting machine software updates, firmware, upload devices and source code due to sole ownership by the voting machine vendor – in essence Virginia owns the voting machines but the voting machine vendor owns everything else. It’s notable, all voting machines are purchased / leased from a non-government vendor.
The Virginia Code § 24.2-626 directs all governing bodies to acquire and use electronic voting systems for all elections.[1] § 24.2-627. Governs the number of electronic voting systems to be used per precinct.[2] § 24.2-625.1. specifies records that describe protocols for maintaining the security of ballots or voting and counting equipment[3] shall be confidential and excluded from inspection and copying under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.)
Conversely, § 24.2-629. Outlines the State Board approval process of electronic voting systems.[4] Including protocols for the Electoral Board to examine and file a finding report on equipment, ballots, and other materials submitted by the vendors, in regards to the capability of such equipment to accurately count, register, and report votes… and whether the system can be safely used without undue potential for fraud.
Plaintiffs complaint seeks relief because they are caught between adhering to the oath they take to uphold the Virginia Constitution, whilst being governed by policies and procedures set forth by Virginia Code and Virginia Department of Elections which are not in harmony with the state’s Constitution.
The core of this complaint is centered around how the vote count is achieved and recorded. The process of reviewing, confirming and recording the official local results of an election is called a “canvass”. Precinct chiefs deliver a package that contains voting reports and results, including machine tapes with the machine generated vote totals to the city or county board members and the local registrar who is then responsible for conducting the canvass and transmitting the results to the state’s Department of Elections.
Plaintiffs are prohibited from verifying whether the ballots generated by the voting machines are accurate because they are prohibited from reconciling the voting machines count without the vendor’s authorization. Thus, a paper ballot count and the machine count are not reconciled prior to reporting the results to the Board of Elections. Even more alarming, plaintiffs cannot verify whether the voting machines are connected to the internet, nor whether the voting machines count the ballots as the voter intended.
The privately owned code that is used in the state owned voting machines control every aspect of processing and counting the ballots in any given election. As such, plaintiffs’ position is the vote totals are generated via a secret count that is in direct violation of the Virginia Constitution Article II, Section 3. Board members take an oath to uphold the Virginia Constitution, which prohibits the counting of ballots in secret, therefore, certifying the election under the current legal and administrative framework would be a violation of their oaths of office.
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