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Board certifies Dominion Democracy Suite 5.2 for use in Michigan
Summary
The Michigan Board of State Canvassers voted to certify Dominion Voting Systems’ Democracy Suite 5.2 after the Bureau of Elections reported laboratory testing, county demonstrations and fixes to accessibility and scanner functions.
The Michigan Board of State Canvassers voted to certify Dominion Voting Systems’ Democracy Suite 5.2 for use in the state after the Bureau of Elections reported lab testing, county demonstrations and user testing supported the system’s updated features.
The certification is part of the board’s statutory responsibility to approve voting equipment and configuration changes used in Michigan elections. The Bureau of Elections told the board it had reviewed federal and lab reports, observed vendor demonstrations and ran test ballots with local election officials from Kent, Wayne and Jackson counties and several local clerks.
The bureau described four categories of changes that can come before the board: vendor approval (the periodic decision about which vendors may be used), major version upgrades, version upgrades and de minimis component changes. The Democracy Suite 5.2 review was presented as a version upgrade from 5.17 that included an updated operating system and software and other functional improvements.
The bureau said the update included changes intended to improve compliance with web content accessibility guidelines and a correction to a user workflow on the ballot-marking device that had caused accessibility problems last election. It also noted scanner and reporting safeguards designed to prevent premature generation of certain reports.
A board member moved, “I move that the board certify the Dominion Democracy Suite 5.2 voting system for the use in the state of Michigan.” The motion was seconded and the board approved the certification (vote recorded as "Aye").
Following certification, the bureau said it will update equipment in the roughly 65 counties that use Dominion so the 5.2 configuration can be available for the coming election cycle. The bureau also noted that the federal Election Assistance Commission and accredited voting system test laboratories review and certify systems before state-level review.
The board discussion did not include a roll-call vote listing individual member votes in the meeting transcript.
