Some Michigan counties can’t instantly report Tuesday evening’s election outcomes as a result of a complicated mixture of federal vote reporting steerage and AT&T’s determination to retire its 3G networks this previous February.
In an internet site alert, the Wayne County clerk’s workplace confirmed that 65 of Michigan’s 83 complete counties “are not modeming unofficial election outcomes.” Wayne County is the place Detroit is positioned, and it’s the state’s greatest county by inhabitants, with about 1.8 million residents. It’s unclear what number of are as a result of county officers that didn’t improve their very own modems, or if this is because of U.S. Election Help Fee (EAC) tips advising towards utilizing modems.
In part 14.2-E, the Voluntary Voting System Pointers (VVSG) 2.0 established in February 2021 suggested towards connecting voting methods to the web. The rules cited the chance of ransomware, the power for attackers to view information inside the system, or modify information inside it that need to do with election outcomes and poll data.
“This has considerably delayed the reporting course of,” the Tuesday evening Wayne County alert learn. “We don’t have a definitive time of after we will attain one hundred pc reporting, however will proceed to work all through the night and morning till that is achieved.”
When requested if the modems can be upgraded the reply was the state is not certifying upgrades.
Once I requested why we weren’t instructed in regards to the plan to scrap the modems I wasn’t given a direct reply. Solely that the intent was to make the election safer. 3/
— Grant Hermes (@GrantHermes) August 3, 2022
Early Wednesday morning, the Wayne County clerk’s workplace told WDIV reporter Grant Hermes that the plan was by no means to make use of the modems, which hadn’t been up to date for 4G LTE or 5G as a result of the state is not certifying upgrades. Not less than in Wayne County, Hermes reviews the outcomes are pushed from precincts to metropolis and township halls, manually learn into a pc there, exported, and despatched to the county utilizing safe FTP.
Elsewhere in Michigan, Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum instructed The Verge that to be cyber safety acutely aware, “we’ve by no means modemed outcomes. So this didn’t change our course of in Ingham County.”
In an announcement emailed to The Verge early Wednesday morning, Tracy Wimmer, the director of media relations for the Secretary of State, defined the steps which were taken to current any chance of interference and to counter misinformation about voting that has targeted on using modems. “The unofficial outcomes from polling locations are being pushed by election staff in autos within the many counties which might be phasing out using modems to transmit unofficial outcomes … Counties are phasing out modems on completely different schedules due to their particular voting system configurations and county wants – for instance, all 65 Dominion methods not use modems.”
AT&T didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
After saying its plans to finish its 3G wi-fi community in 2019, the supplier formally sundown the service this previous February.
Wayne County Clerk:
Election Outcomes Replace
Primarily based on the advice of the Voluntary Voting Programs Guideline 2.0 issued by the U.S. Election Help Fee, coupled with AT&T’s determination in March 2022 to not help 3G modems, 65 out of 83 Counties in Michigan are not modeming unofficial election outcomes. This has signficantly delayed the reporting course of. We don’t have a definitive time of after we will attain one hundred pc reporting, however will proceed to work all through the night and morning till that is achieved.
Michigan Secretary of State:
Polling locations have closed and publicly posted unofficial outcomes throughout Michigan and people unofficial outcomes are being transmitted to county clerk places of work. In the meantime, many absentee poll counting boards proceed to depend the votes of as many as half or extra of the jurisdictions’ ballots, and full unofficial outcomes can’t be recognized till all absentee ballots are counted. The unofficial outcomes from polling locations are being pushed by election staff in autos within the many counties which might be phasing out using modems to transmit unofficial outcomes. That is being accomplished in accordance with steerage issued by the U.S. Elections Help Fee with a purpose to forestall any distant chance of interference, and to counter misinformation that has been circulated regarding using modems. Counties are phasing out modems on completely different schedules due to their particular voting system configurations and county wants – for instance, all 65 Dominion methods not use modems.
Replace August 2nd, 1:58AM ET: Added extra data from the Wayne County Clerk, and an announcement from the workplace of the Michigan Secretary of State.