Voter Protection: Be Involved
Make sure your vote counts!
Secretary of State
16 Francis Street • Annapolis, MD 21401
(410) 974-5521
MARYLAND VOTING MACHINES USING OUT-OF-DATE SOFTWARE
Out-of-date software is unprotected and vulnerable to security risks
MD counties are using ES&S EVS5.2.0.3 voting machines that use end of life software (Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2) which is no longer supported by Microsoft. Regular security updates ended on January 14, 2020. Unprotected software is vulnerable to malicious actions (hacking, malware) and could lead to the disruption of any election.
MARYLAND VOTERS PRIVATE DATA EASILY ACCESIBLE
Voter’s party affiliation and residence address open to public
The State of Maryland provides a voter status lookup. This application requires voter’s name, last name, date of birth and residence zip code to access it. Any person with such information could then access a voter’s residence address and party affiliation.
MARYLAND’S VOTERS DATABASE SOLD ON HACKING FORUMS
A hacker claimed to have accessed Maryland state servers
In October 2018, Maryland’s voter database was hacked from the state’s official SSH/sFTP servers and private data was downloaded (Voter IDs, Full Names, Physical Addresses, Previous Addresses, Date of Birth, Genders, Voter Status, Voter History).
MD’S VOTER REGISTRATION VENDOR FINANCED BY RUSSIAN OLIGARCH
The Russian connections were alarming enough to review the vendor’s contract
ByteGrid LLC owned the servers that held the Maryland data for voter registration, candidacy, election management, and election night results. In 2018, Maryland officials were warned by the FBI that the vendor ByteGrid LLC was financed by AltPoint Capital Partners, whose fund manager was a Russian and its largest investor was a Russian oligarch named Vladimir Potanin.
After the federal investigation, a new firm, Intelishift, a Virginia-based data center, and its subsidiary, The Sidus Group, took ownership of hosting Maryland’s elections data.
- www.npr.org/2018/07/13/628998843/maryland-investigates-russian-nationals-links-to-state-elections-software
- www.wusa9.com/article/news/maryland-voter-database-no-longer-tied-to-russian-oligarch/65-91343969-dc71-4c5d-96f0-b26ab4ccb2e5
35,000 BALLOTS REJECTED IN FIRST STATEWIDE VOT-BY-MAIL
Failure of signing ballot envelops and mailing ballots too late were the top reasons
A summary released by the State Board of Elections shows that nearly 35,000 ballots were rejected from the primary election. A little over 87% of the ballots rejected were due to the ballots being returned late. The second most common reason at 9.41% was a lack of a signature on the ballot. The total number of ballots rejected accounted for 2.39% of the vote, in-person voting results in a much lower error rate.
Maryland Constitutional Preamble
We, the People of the State of Maryland, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberty, and taking into our serious consideration the best means of establishing a good Constitution in this State for the sure foundation and more permanent security.
