Cobb County elections staff rescanned 921 ballots after discovering a scanner port door that “appeared to be open even though there was a seal that was on the side of the scanner, but it didn't appear that it had sealed that door shut,” Elections Director Paul told the Board of Elections during a precertification meeting. Staff ran the 921 ballots through the ICC to verify that the rescan produced the same totals as the original scanner tape.

The rescan confirmed the original tape totals, and the office will retain the ballot images and both the zero and closed tapes as evidence, Paul said. “We rescanned all, of the ballots. It was 921 ballots through the ICC to confirm that the results were the same as the scanner tape had produced,” Paul said.

Why it matters: the discovery raised concerns about physical security of tabulation equipment during early tabulation. Although the board said there was no evidence of tampering, county staff described steps to reduce future risk by adding extra tamper-evident measures to the scanner port used by the Secretary of State.

Details of the response and planned changes

County staff said the port in question is the display port on the side of the bucket scanner and that the port is ordinarily accessed only by the Secretary of State. The office plans to add a secondary tamper-proof (wire barrel) seal and a label seal to the port door and to place an additional visible red seal on the exterior latch that will leave a “void” mark when removed. Staff said those extra seals are not required by current procedures but will be added as an extra layer of security.

County officials said the existing serial numbers on seals matched their records for the election in question but that the door nevertheless was not latched. Staff characterized the finding as an operational oversight and said they will add the additional seals to all scanners as they rotate equipment for the July 15 runoff and for the November cycle.

What the board was told about evidence and transparency

Paul told the board that observers from both parties were present when staff performed the rescan and that the risk-limiting audit (RLA) scheduled for next Thursday will proceed as planned. The office will retain the rescan images, the zero tape, and the closed tape along with the ICC records to document the confirmation.

Board members asked procedural questions about seal replacement practices and whether the county or the Secretary of State typically replaces seals when equipment is reconfigured. County staff said there have been occasions when seals were removed to fit equipment into duplex machines and then replaced; those replacements are recorded in seal-accounting forms.

Ending

The board did not take formal action on the matter during the meeting; staff said they completed a verification rescan and would implement the additional sealing procedures ahead of further elections.