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CEE says software error that produced zeroed transmission fields was fixed; independent lab test and public demonstration planned
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Summary
Commission Estatal de Elecciones officials told a House committee the transmission error that produced zero values in some transmitted vote files during recent primaries was reproduced and corrected at the software level; Dominion has agreed to submit corrected code to a certified laboratory and the CEE plans a full public end-to-end demonstration in September.
SAN JUAN — The Commission Estatal de Elecciones (CEE) told the House of Representatives' Committee on Electoral Affairs on July 18 that a coding error that caused some transmitted results to show zeros in place of vote totals during the recent primaries has been fixed and validated by internal tests, but the CEE will also seek an independent laboratory certification.
Jessica Padilla Rivera, presidenta alterna of the CEE, said technical staff and party-appointed technology experts reviewed corrective measures reported by Dominion and that the commissionhas documented the tests in an annex to its presentation. ‘‘Hemos corroborado y validado la informacin tcnica provista por Dominion en torno a las medidas correctivas tomadas,’’ she said in the hearing.
Eduardo Nieves, CEE director of systems and IT, described how a technical committee worked alongside Dominion engineers to reproduce the error by simulating roughly 80 elections under two scenarios: the software used in the primaries and the corrected software. In the corrected scenario, he said, the committee did not reproduce the file-generation error. ‘‘En el escenario ... con el software corregido ... corroboramos que no se comete el error,’’ Nieves told legislators.
Nieves said Dominion has offered to submit the updated code to a laboratory accredited by the appropriate election-accreditation authority so the lab can issue an independent report. The CEE's committee also performed internal validation and will wait for the laboratory's final evaluation before deciding whether additional certification steps are required.
Padilla and Nieves emphasized the difference between a coding (logical) problem and a mechanical issue: ‘‘Si hubiera sido un problema mecnico, habra que trabajar cada mquina; esto fue un problema de lgica,’’ Nieves said, adding that the corrected software will be installed across machines.
The CEE also told the committee it will perform a public, end-to-end demonstration using production ballots and a machine for each precinct in a controlled setting, likely in September, so observers can see the entire process from ballot marking to result dissemination. Nieves said the demonstration is intended to show ‘‘de la A hasta la Zeta’’ that the system functions in a full run-through.
Dominionremains the contract vendor for the voting machines for the upcoming general election. The CEE said the final independent laboratory report from the accredited facility will be provided to the committee when available and that they are in discussions with Dominion about any contractual or reputational remediation the company may offer.
The committee requested the laboratory report and related annexes be submitted to its technical staff when finalized. The hearing continued with other operational and budgeting questions.
The CEE is expected to provide the committee with the laboratory report and the schedule for the public demonstration once those items are finalized.
