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Precinct monitor tells council he observed machine hotspots and raises questions about scanner security
Summary
A volunteer election monitor, Jim Kuiper, told council he observed Wi‑Fi hotspots appear when a precinct scanner was switched to tabulation mode and urged further review; he said his sample covered one precinct and that he had discussed findings with the registrar.
At the public-comment portion of the Chesapeake City Council meeting, Jim Kuiper presented observations from monitoring one precinct's voting equipment and raised concerns about brief Wi‑Fi/hotspot activity when election equipment was switched to tabulation mode.
Kuiper said his monitoring focused on Precinct 42 and one machine and that he captured screenshots showing two hotspots for a few minutes when poll workers switched modes after the polls closed. He said he had discussed the matter with the registrar and the office—s staff and reviewed admin settings on laptops stored with the voting-system inventory. "It's taking data from a lot of different things," Kuiper said, and he expressed concern that, in theory, some machine types allow an online connection. He also emphasized his sample was limited to a single precinct and a single machine.
City officials heard the concerns but did not take immediate action during the meeting beyond noting Kuiper had already shared the information with the registrar. Kuiper framed the issue as one requiring more extensive presentation and formal review.
