Voter Protection: Be Involved
Make sure your vote counts!
Secretary of State
128 State Street • Montpelier, VT 05633
(802) 828-2148
VT DOES NOT CONDUCT STATEWIDE PURGE OF VOTER REGISTRATION ROLLS
SOS Jim Condos plans to send out universal mail-in ballots for the 2020 election
Legislation was approved this year to allow Condos to put into place a universal vote-by-mail system. There is no standard in Vermont to purge voter rolls, according to Condos, local town clerks and boards of civil authority are the custodians of the checklist. A lawsuit was filed seeking to block Condos from administering the universal vote-by-mail system. The plaintiffs argue that because the voter rolls haven’t been adequately purged of people who have died, moved, or ineligible to vote, it opens the door for voter fraud.
- www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2018/06/14/vt-insight-does-vermont-purge-voter-rolls/695947002/
- www.vpr.org/post/federal-lawsuit-challenges-constitutionality-vermonts-vote-mail-plan-2020#stream/0
- www.vpr.org/sites/vpr/files/202009/BALLOT-SUIT.pdf
VT VOTING SYSTEMS ARE OLD, CONTAIN BUGS AND ARE AT RISK OF BEING HACKED
VT using voting systems no longer manufactured and they are connected to the Internet
Vermont’s townships use AccuVote Optical Scans from old and defunct vendor Premier/Diebold. These scanners are no longer manufactured, 20-years old, highly insecure and susceptible to internal software bugs and external attacks. Also, it lacks security measures as it uses long-discontinued software (Windows XP) not supported by Microsoft since 2014.
Since 2018, townships use a ballot-marking device (OmniBallot Tablet) from an unusual vendor, Democracy Live, that has never been through federal EAC certification. Also, this company provides Vermont voters with an online application that allows them to mark their ballots online (OmniBallot Online). Investigators recently researched OmniBallot Online and found a wide range of risks, which included changing election outcomes without detection.
- sos.vermont.gov/elections/town-clerks/election-supplies/
- sos.vermont.gov/media/nhmjl3xy/omniballot-tablet-flyer.pdf
- web.archive.org/web/20200608124616/https://internetpolicy.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/OmniBallot.pdf
VT VOTER DATABASE SOLD ON HACKING FORUMS
Keeping voter’s data safe is crucial for election integrity
In October 2018, hackers were able to penetrate the state’s official servers and download voter’s databases. Vermont was among the targeted states and 476 thousand voter records were leaked and later sold on hacking forums. The compromised data included: Voter IDs, Full Names, Physical Addresses, Previous Addresses, Date of Birth, Genders, Voter Status, Voter History, and Phone Numbers.
raidforums.com/Thread-Vermont-2018-Voter-Database-Leaked-Download
VT DATABASE LEAKING VOTERS PRIVATE DATA
Weak login exposing voter’s home address
The State of Vermont provides an online application to allow users to check their voter status. This application requires only a voter’s name, last name and date of birth to access it. Any person with such information could then access a voter’s residence.