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Board approves pilot to transmit unofficial ES&S regional results for Macomb County
Summary
The board approved a pilot allowing ES&S customers in Macomb County to use a regional results function to transmit unofficial results via an encrypted connection; staff said the pilot uses a separate system and backup sticks and will not replace official EMS media used for county canvass.
The Michigan State Board of Canvassers on Sept. 19 approved a pilot allowing Macomb County to use ES&S’s regional results functionality to transmit unofficial results to the county more quickly during the November election.
Mister Prakasi, a Bureau of Elections presenter, said the feature lets local jurisdictions send unofficial results to the county through a secure transmission instead of waiting for the local clerks to physically deliver media after election night. "This system does is allows the local jurisdiction to get the unofficial results to the county faster," Prakasi said, adding the board is approving a pilot limited to Macomb County for the upcoming November election.
Lauri Braid, identified in the meeting as Michigan regional sales manager for ES&S, described the network and security: the transmission uses TLS over a tunnel routed through Verizon and is separated from the official EMS. "This where they're sending their results to will never touch the official, EMS system," Braid said, and she said the system uses separate backup sticks for transmission so the live election stick is not exposed by the pilot workflow.
Prakasi and Braid told the board staff retested the component in conjunction with ES&S and that testing took place at the Macomb County Clerk’s office on Sept. 11; "No issues were observed and it performed as it was expected to during testing," Prakasi said. The presenters, and later board members, emphasized that the pilot transmits only unofficial results and that the official county canvass will continue to rely on the physical media delivered to the county.
Vice Chair Gurewitz thanked Bureau staff for the work and confirmed board members' understanding that the transmission is encrypted and that comparisons will be done between transmitted data and the physical media during the county canvas.
The board moved and seconded a motion to "approve the use of regional results functionality for ES and S customers in EVS 60,060 for secure unofficial results transmission for Macomb County in the November." The motion passed with aye votes.
The board closed that item and then adjourned the meeting.
