Voter Protection: Be Involved

Make sure your vote counts!

Secretary of State

148 State House Station • Augusta, ME 04333

(207) 626-8400

Preserve Liberty: VOTE

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HUMAN AND SOFTWARE ERROR CAUSED 11,000 BALLOTS TO NOT BE COUNTED

A recount after the July primary did not change any election results but exposes issues

An assistant director of elections discovered that thousands of hand-counted ballots were overlooked following the July primary. The reasons the ballots were overlooked stemmed from a Secretary of State Office staff member selecting the wrong computer file while uploading ballot images and a memory device that suffered an error preventing it from uploading the ballot images stored on it.

• www.centralmaine.com/2020/08/03/primary-results-are-unchanged-after-count-of-11000-ballots-that-had-been-overlooked/
• www.facebook.com/pg/MaineSOS/posts/

VIOLATING ELECTION AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS BY HOUSE SPEAKER

Speaker Sara Gideon has been accused of violating election laws at a polling location

Maine Republican Party executive director, Jason Savage, posted a video on Facebook showing Gideon distributing yard signs on Election Day at a polling place, this violates Maine’s election statutes. FEC records indicate that billionaire Tom Steyer has donated $16,800 to Gideon’s campaign surpassing the $2,800 max individual contribution per election cycle. Steyer was issued a refund of $5,600 for over contributing to Gideon’s primary election; there is still a $5,600 over-contribution to Gideon’s general election fund.

• www.facebook.com/jasonrsavage/posts/3474067612605747
• www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?data_type=efiling&committee_id=C00709899&contributor_name=Steyer
• docquery.fec.gov/pdf/103/202007159250116103/202007159250116103.pdf#navpanes=0

MAINE’S VOTING SOFTWARE IS OUT OF DATE

Voting systems relying on outdated software are at risk of being hacked

Maine uses ES&S machines and hand Counted Paper Ballots. Last certified voting system was ES&S EVS 5.2.1.0. Current DS200 tabulators are used in about 267 of Maine’s 500 voting jurisdictions, there are 233 jurisdictions that still hand-count their ballots. EVS 5.2.1.0 (DS200, ExpressVote) uses end of life systems (Microsoft Server 2008, Windows 7 Professional) that are vulnerable to hacking as they no longer receive security patches.

• verifiedvoting.org/verifier/#mode/navigate/map/ppEquip/mapType/normal/year/2020/state/23
• www.eac.gov/sites/default/files/eac_assets/1/6/ME_Narrative_Budget.pdf
• www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/temp/2016/ExpressVoteElectionDayManualFINAL4-24-16.doc

MAINE UN-CERTIFIED ES&S VOTING SYSTEM INCORPORATING RCV

Any modification to an EAC-certified system, decertifies the certification.

Maine modified the EVS 5.2.1.0 software and hardware to include rank-choice voting (RCV) system in 2018. Any modification to an EAC-certified system, decertifies the certification. Additionally, incorporating RCV into the tabulators creates an additional cost. The additional ballot pages and equipment update created an extra cost of $761,000 in 2017-2018 and $641,000 in 2018-2019.

• fortisport.maine.gov/fortisportal/dddisplayqueryprompts.aspx?Database=Accounting&Query=DOP_Portal&QuerySet=Purchases&User=Public.Purchases&Password=Purcha$e$1
• www.eac.gov/sites/default/files/voting_system/files/Combined%20Cert%20Scope%20of%20Cert5210.pdf
• www.eac.gov/sites/default/files/voting_system/files/Final%20Decision%20ltr.FINAL.pdf
• www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/ranked-choice-voting.aspx

MAINE EXPRESS VOTE VOTING MACHINE BARCODES HACKABLE

Other states have outlawed the use of barcodes for their vulnerability to a hack.

The voting machine ExpressVote, a ballot-marking device from ES&S, produces a not human-readable barcode that makes it impossible for a voter to know what information is stored on it. ExpressVote has known vulnerabilities that were exposed by Cyber Security Company, ATSEC. They showed how bad actors could read and modify files, recover passwords and execute arbitrary code to access the system.

Many States are moving forward to ban these type of voting machines. Colorado was the first State to ban barcodes for tabulating votes, and other States, such as North Carolina, are in the process of decertifying the ExpressVote / ExpressVote XL.

• elections.wi.gov/sites/elections.wi.gov/files/page/evs_5220_5320_commission_memo_pdf_96763.pdf
• pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2020/04/15/voting-rights-advocates-sue-over-expressvote-machines-want-hand-marked-paper-ballots-for-upcoming-election/
• assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6838875/NC-Voting-Machine-Complaint-FINAL.pdf
• securiosa.com/posts/how_expressvote_barcodes_could_be_modified.html
• www.cnn.com/2019/09/16/politics/colorado-qr-codes-votes/index.html

Objects of government. We the people of Maine, in order to establish justice, insure tranquility, provide for our mutual defense, promote our common welfare, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of liberty, acknowledging with grateful hearts the goodness of the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe in affording us an opportunity, so favorable to the design; and, imploring God's aid and direction in its accomplishment, do agree to form ourselves into a free and independent State, by the style and title of the State of Maine and do ordain and establish the following Constitution for the government of the same.