How Secure are
Oregon Elections?
I
recently returned from a meeting where I met with other Secretaries of State
from around the country. As you can imagine, cybersecurity dominated our
discussions. I was able to attend a briefing with National Intelligence, the Department Homeland
Security, and FBI officials. Generally, the briefing focused on information
that now has been made public in the indictment
of 13 Russians.
What
is most significant to me from the information I received, which is now public,
is the Russian conspiracy apparently was not to change the outcome of the
election, but its purpose was to undermine American confidence in our electoral
system. While Oregon was one of 21 states whose voter registration system was
targeted, no access was obtained. There are new, unsubstantiated reports coming
out that say seven states had their files compromised. The Department of
Homeland Security has assured us that Oregon’s voter registration database was
not breached.
After
attending the briefing and comparing best practices from other states, I am
confident that Oregon’s voting system is a national leader in cybersecurity and
protection from malicious outside intrusions. That said, we continue to
evaluate and improve our security processes to ensure our systems are as secure
as possible.
Tabulation
The
Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have confirmed that no vote tally
systems in Oregon have been hacked. Since I assumed my duties as Oregon
Secretary of State, each of the three elections that have taken place on my
watch have been conducted without incident. In fact, Oregon’s multi-layered
systems have successfully protected our election systems for years and we continue
to build our defenses to deal with new threats.
Registration
Database
Oregon’s
voter registration database is backed up every day, and we have detection
devices in place to notify us if an attack were to occur. Thus, if our voter
registration database were to be hacked, we would be able to revert to the
previous day’s clean file by restoring the backup. We would then focus on those
few transactions that were impacted during the time in question to ensure the
accuracy of every voter registration record.
Voting System
Certification
Oregon
statutes require voting systems to be certified. A federally
accredited voting system test laboratory checks for vulnerabilities and
provides our Elections Division with a report that helps us perform our own
analysis to ensure systems are secure before certifying them. Once these
certified machines are purchased by the counties, they are never connected to
the internet and are physically secured at all times. Since Oregon voters use
paper ballots, all ballots are counted in secure rooms equipped with security cameras at each of Oregon’s 36 county election offices.
Audits
Another
key accuracy step in Oregon’s security process is logic and accuracy testing of
voting systems. This testing takes place before and after every election and is
required by state law. Before voters’ ballots are scanned, test ballots are
marked and run through the tally machines to ensure the results from the voting
machines match how ballots are marked. This same process is followed after the
election to ensure there was no change to the programming of the ballot counting machines.
Every
Oregon county elections office also audits a random sample of ballots where an
elections official counts ballots by hand to ensure the published results
accurately reflect the votes cast by Oregon voters. This confirms that there
has been no tampering with the vote tally systems and the results are accurate.
Conclusion
We
are in the middle of an information war, and that is why I am determined to be
transparent and give you real information about how your government is serving
you. I want you to know that you can be confident in our election system and
that paper can’t be hacked.
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Notice
to Possible Candidates. March
6th is the deadline to file to run for office for the May 15, 2018
Primary Election. There are many offices up for election at the state, county,
and local levels. I encourage you to look at the list and see if there is a
position that you feel you could fill. We have made the process easy for you. To
find out which offices will be up for election this year, who has already filed
to run for each office, and deadlines that must be met, please look on our website.
For some positions, you will need to file with my office at the Secretary
of State office, and for others you will need to file at the county elections
office. Manuals on how to be a candidate can be found here.
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