Secretary of State defends election systems as public witnesses press fraud and vendor claims

The committee heard the Department of State’s Smart Act presentation and a lengthy public‑testimony session that raised contested allegations about election systems, vendor practices and past office decisions.

Secretary of State Jenna Griswold opened with an overview of the department’s functions — business registration, licensing, elections, campaign finance and charity oversight — and highlighted operational improvements: more than 1,000,000 businesses registered in good standing, nearly 500,000 subscribers to a business‑filing text‑notification service, and a business‑fraud complaint process that has completed over 5,150 investigations.

On elections, Griswold reviewed the 2025 coordinated election, reporting approximately 42% turnout among active voters and that more than 98% of mail ballots were returned. She highlighted ballot‑track and ballot‑cure programs (4,200 cures in 2025; 56,000 cures since 2020) as measures that helped ensure ballots were counted. Griswold also described a spike in threats against election workers in recent years and said the office has worked with the legislature and county clerks to make doxxing and retaliation crimes and to fund security grants.

Committee members pressed the department on technical issues. Representative Luck asked about the Tracer upgrade and other IT projects; Griswold said vendor delays pushed the Tracer rollout and an internal vendor code change temporarily caused a precinct‑split reporting error in a downloadable Excel report for a small number of counties; the vendor and the office removed the affected report and fixed the issue when identified. She said upgrades scheduled for after the general election remain a priority.

Senator Zamora Wilson and others raised security concerns including vendor involvement and Wi‑Fi/Bluetooth capability in legacy equipment. Griswold said only one county used legacy Liberty voting equipment that had any Wi‑Fi capability, that state rules require disabling and verification before elections, and that equipment storage and chain‑of‑custody include access logs, video, bipartisan pre‑use testing and risk‑limiting audits backed by paper ballots. She said there was no evidence for many of the specific foreign‑tampering accusations aired by public witnesses.

Public testimony dominated the hearing’s final hour. Multiple witnesses made detailed allegations about vendor misconduct, foreign involvement (naming Dominion, Smartmatic, and other vendors or engineers), prior 'trusted builds,' BIOS password exposures, and the integrity of certain audit or recount procedures. Witnesses requested investigations, decertification of machines, and a shift to in‑person paper voting; several speakers asserted the Department of State had been uncooperative with federal investigators. The department and some committee members responded that some inquiries are under Department of Justice review and that vendor issues identified (the E&R Excel report bug) were corrected.

What the hearing did not resolve: public witnesses raised numerous allegations and referenced outside lawsuits, whistleblower testimonies and indictments in other jurisdictions; the committee record contains the claims but Griswold and the department repeatedly denied the factual basis for many of them and said they would work with counties and federal partners. The committee did not adopt any emergency decertification or voting‑equipment policy at this meeting.

What’s next: Griswold said the department will continue vendor oversight, respond to county concerns, and provide requested clarifications electronically if time ran out during Q&A. Lawmakers and public witnesses signaled interest in further oversight and potential investigations by other authorities.