In August I took a two-pronged trip to make an in-person inspection and tour of the contractors that Grand County partners with for administering efficient, secure and accurate elections.
I emphasized a skeptical approach, resisting the urge to avoid asking stupid questions but rather letting fly any possible curiosities and putting myself in the shoes of my constituents and out of my boots steeped in the esoterics of elections administration.
Outside of offering descriptions of positive working relationships with regional and state reps and the consistently positive nature of the service I’ve received, I reflected on how else I could express to my constituents with some degree of authority that the very nuts and bolts of how we run our elections are done with the utmost integrity, professionalism, quality, and pride. I felt like an in-person visit would offer significant credibility to that idea. I was able to arrange for the trip to be sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, via grants secured by Grand County Emergency Manager Cora Phillips.
My first stop took me to Omaha, Nebraska, which has been the Elections Systems and Software (ES&S) headquarters since its founding in 1979. Anyone who has traveled I-80 may recognize the enormous U.S. flag that flies over the otherwise nondescript rectangular office complex next to the freeway. This company makes the proprietary and purpose-built equipment that helps voters fill out ballots and helps the Clerk’s office count and scan the ballots after they have been processed, verified, and synced with the voter rolls while still in their envelopes.
ES&S also develops the software that Grand County uses to compile the tabulated results on a dedicated computer that is never connected to the internet. ES&S is a provider to 1,512 counties across 41 states, comprising approximately 48% of registered voters in the United States. It is easy to imagine that at this scale, federal-level agencies dedicated to enforcement, regulation, and oversight are in very close contact with ES&S as a matter of national security. These agencies include but are not limited to the Elections Assistance Commission, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security. ES&S has a chief information security officer who counts themself as a former US Navy Officer.
Throughout the 2.5 hour tour, I was able to see a variety of prototypes being tested and was given a detailed breakdown of how equipment and software are developed and delivered to election offices across the country. All of the manufacturers of the components used in the equipment are known, vetted, and are tested by independent labs, including literally under a microscope and x-ray, using well-defined and vetted supply chain security protocols. Every piece of equipment used across the country is configured and tested at the Omaha facility.
I remember during my first election as Clerk starting to complain to myself about why the flash drives that we use to transmit results were so expensive. It’s the procurement of meticulously inspected components and ultimate assembly in the USA that makes a $10 flash drive cost $100.
The software source code is also written entirely in the USA, and after being submitted for review by the Elections Assistance Commission, is archived with a 3rd party so that any suspected variations or ‘ghosts’ would be revealed upon comparison with the archive.
ES&S is 100% USA-owned, with the majority shareholder a native Omahan. The two gentlemen who gave me my tour were people I might best euphemistically describe as ‘average Joes’ who take pride in their work in a way not at all dissimilar to the way I give my heartfelt attention to the healthy functioning of elections—the bedrock of our democracy. This isn’t a company teeming with slicked-back tech bros, stiff technocrats, or white collared businesspeople, but folks that are driven to be doing something meaningful, and quick to go on a side tangent about being a girl dad or make predictions on the upcoming Big Ten football season. Their spirit and dedication was palpable, and they proved knowledgeable and responsive to any question that I had. I tightened my auditor cap and looked for any cue that could indicate something amiss. Even when I baited them to veer into commentary related to partisan politics, there wasn’t even a nibble.
My second stop took me to SeaChange in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After absentmindedly barreling into the teeth of Twin Cities’ morning rush hour traffic, I found myself in an expansive printing facility nestled in an outskirt business park. Here, my tour guides were sweet-mannered and coy in a way that I know all too well as an upper-midwesterner. The length of vowel pronunciation heard in the building was as long as a 17″ ballot.
I learned quickly that the emphasis on this tour was demonstrating less a commitment to weaving together elements of the set and stage, and more about making sure the lights were working and the actors showed up on time. In my office, we send SeaChange a ballot image after several rounds of certification, data entry and proofing in my office; they then create the physical product and deliver it. The integrity of the machinery and associated assembly line-style manufacturing process was the crown jewel of the tour, with scanners, scales, and cameras installed at the room-sized end-to-end printer and envelope-stuffing stations.
Ultimately, SeaChange made sure to show and tell me loud and clear how they ensure that the correct crisply printed ballot is put into the correctly marked envelope and sent to the correct address. They convinced me of just that. 100% USA-owned with a proud female president and CEO, SeaChange exemplified to me the same level of groundedness and focus on getting the job done right that should be the expectation of every election administrator and every voter.
The 2020 election was the most safe and secure presidential election ever run, and this trip brought me even more confidence that 2024 will supersede it in that respect.
Gabriel J. Woytek
Grand County Clerk/Auditor
