What security procedures are in place for the 2022 election?
The Hamilton County Board of Elections gets questions from the public about the 2020 election and election security every day, even almost two years later.
As the 2022 election nears, the number of emails and public records requests from members of the public regarding the 2020 election have spiked, said Alex Linser, the board’s deputy director. In the past two weeks, they have averaged about three a day, he said.
“There are two common themes that we receive, distrust of the voting machines, and the other seeking reproduction of all of the documents created in the 2020 election,” Linser said. The latter, which includes every ballot ID envelope, costs $75,000 to copy every sheet. No one has taken the board of elections up on that offer, Linser said.
It’s not just Hamilton County. Backers of former President Donald Trump and his false claims of a stolen 2020 election have swamped the boards of election in more than two dozen states and counties all across Ohio, the Washington Post, National Public Radio and other news agencies reported.
“The board of elections receives a lot of communication from people who are questioning the integrity of the 2020 election,” Linser said. “We know that was the most accurate and safe and secure election in American history. The good news is, you don’t have to take my word for it. We can show you.”
Here’s what Linser and other elected officials want you to know.
No internet for voting machines
Voting machines cannot access the internet, elections officials said. The Ohio secretary of state requires an independent verification that each voting machine doesn’t have any hardware capable of going online, Linser said.
Also, no computer in the room where votes are counted on election night can access the internet. The lack of internet is also why there’s a one-to-two hour delay between reporting the absentee ballots, which are already at the board of elections, and the first few precincts, Linser and elections Director Sherry Poland said during a media tour Tuesday.
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