Since the 2020 election, concerns about foreign interference, cyberattacks and uncounted votes have grown among the American public, prompting many to question the security of their ballots. With Election Day less than two weeks away, officials are ramping up efforts to reassure voters about the integrity of the electoral process.
In this atmosphere of voter uncertainty, election officials — including those at the Hamilton County Board of Elections — are working year-round to prepare for and administer elections. They are implementing measures and informing the community about security efforts to address these concerns.
Here are some ways the Hamilton County Board of Elections keeps your ballot safe from the start of election preparation to the very last vote counted.
Bipartisan representation every step of the way
Most doors at the Hamilton County Board of Elections office require two people to open: one Republican and one Democratic employee.
During a media tour of the facility, Director of Elections Sherry Poland scanned her identification badge to enter a restricted area, but the door wouldn’t budge. However, when Deputy Director of Elections and member of the opposing political party, Alexander Linser, joined her, the door opened without issue.
Any room at the Board of Elections branch that holds voter information or ballots has a dual-lock system to ensure complete security and to minimize the risk of partisan tampering.
Linser explained to CityBeat that if two employees are present in a room — one Democrat and one Republican — and the Democrat takes a bathroom break, the Republican must also leave the room.
All processes involving voter information and ballots, including assembling provisional ballots, checking equipment and working the polls, require bipartisan representation, and maintaining an even ratio is crucial when hiring poll workers.
“We are probably the only organization that asks someone what their political affiliation is during the hiring process, but that’s how elections are structured in Ohio,” Poland said. “We have a common goal [of] a free and fair election.”
Testing voting equipment
The largest and most secure area of the Board of Elections office is the warehouse, where all voting equipment — from pens to privacy shields to the ballots themselves — is stored and tested.
All equipment needed for nearly 5,000 voting booths undergoes rigorous testing by Board of Elections workers as well as federal and bipartisan state experts.
Voting equipment is first tested, examined and certified by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and the Ohio Board of Voting Machine Examiners. The Board of Elections employees then begin a similar process.
“The bipartisan teams will [mark the] test ballots [by hand], selecting different options that appear on the ballot. They will then scan those test ballots into the scanner, do a print tally of the electronic results and compare the hand-marked ballots to the electronic count to make sure the machine is counting accurately,” Poland said.
Employees fill out a checklist to confirm that every aspect is working properly. They sign off on the checklist, seal the equipment with a recorded serial number, wipe the conducted test data and print a report to confirm that no cast votes remain on the machine. The supplies and materials needed by poll workers are then locked in a metal caddy labeled with the polling location to which it will be sent.
A third-party vendor picks up the caddies for delivery to the polling locations about a week prior to Election Day. A bipartisan team then “chases” the truck to ensure the caddies are delivered to the proper location. Chain of custody forms are filled out so the Board of Elections can keep track of everyone who has had access to the equipment.
Blank ballots are also stored in the warehouse, kept securely behind a floor-to-ceiling chain link fence Linser calls the “ballot cage.” Entry to the cage is extremely limited and monitored, protected by two party-labeled padlocks and a trackable log with a seal number.
Maintaining security at the polls
Once voting starts, a bipartisan group of poll workers staffs all precincts, ensuring that each location is appropriately open to the media and poll observers. To minimize the risk of partisan tampering at the poll site, the equipment caddy requires two unlock codes: one for Republicans and one for Democrats.
As required by federal and state law, Ohio has a robust voter list maintenance program to maintain accurate voter registration records. Poll workers are trained to perform identification checks on site.
Linser noted that Ohio’s on-site voting machines and tabulators are never connected to the internet, eliminating the risk of cyberattacks.
There are also contingency plans in place for every precinct in case of closure or evacuation, including emergencies, weather issues, staffing poll workers in the event of vacancies and more.
“For every polling place, we have identified an alternate backup site…we have backup equipment and supplies ready to go,” Poland said.
Conducting audits and final counts
The first results posted to the Board of Elections website after the polls close are those from early voting ballots. Voters can expect to wait up to three weeks for an official, verified count, but this timeline helps ensure accuracy.
During the 28 days of early voting leading up to Election Day, bipartisan election officials verify voter information on submitted ballots against individual registration records. They then transport the ballots to scanners, scan the results into a secure system and organize the physical ballots by precinct.
These votes are not counted until after the polls close, and the ballot results are not stored in any cloud or internet service in the meantime. In fact, many computers in the Board of Elections facility operate without an internet connection.
“A bipartisan team takes a thumb drive containing data of the votes that were tabulated and [hand delivers] it to our IT department to a computer that is connected to the internet. The data is uploaded and put on our website,” Poland said.
Once the thumb drive has been used to transfer data to an internet-connected computer, Poland added, it is discontinued from use within the vote-counting room. Each time the Board of Elections uploads results to the website, the data comes from a brand-new thumb drive.
Afterward, information returns from polling locations. Given a higher projected voter count, Linser notes that they expect results to arrive a bit later into the evening on Election Day. This, along with the initial early voting numbers, constitutes the unofficial count.
The election night count is considered unofficial as there may still be eligible ballots that could be added to the official tally, such as absentee ballots in transit or provisional ballots requiring manual checks by a bipartisan team. All mail-in votes must arrive by the Saturday after Election Day, and voters are encouraged to track the status of their absentee ballots.
A verification process then begins, occurring between two to three weeks after Election Day, to address any potential issues that arise during the counting process. The Board of Elections then releases the second, official count, which must be published before a recount can be conducted.
“Once we have those certified, official results, if there’s a contest in the election where the margin of victory is less than one-half of 1%, an automatic recount will be declared,” Poland explained. “Bipartisan election officials [will count] 5% of the ballots cast in that contest [by hand], scanning those ballots, and doing a comparison to ensure the system was counting accurately.”
Thanks to thorough security measures, the Ohio Secretary of State’s office reported a 99.98% accuracy rate statewide during the 2020 presidential election.
“People can have confidence that the results that we publish are an accurate retelling of the voters’ decision,” Linser said.
This article appears in Oct 16-29, 2024.