Voter Resources

ES&S voting systems are certified under strict federal standards and guidelines, including rigorous security, accuracy and reliability testing. They are evaluated against the best practices of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) security protocols and standards, as well as the Center for Internet Security’s (CIS) Critical Security Controls. Our systems have also undergone third-party penetration testing and vulnerability assessments to make sure they withstand the highest security standards. ES&S works closely with federal, state and local election officials, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), law enforcement, and the election community at large to take all recommended steps to enhance election security.

Election jurisdictions follow a multi-layered approach to ensure all votes are counted as cast. Every state upholds established requirements for physical security and chain of custody to protect the security of their systems. These controls may include locks, seals, audit logs, witness signatures or other security measures. Pre-election logic and accuracy testing and post-election audits are proven processes that uphold the accuracy of elections. In addition, every state in the nation has a statutory process for legal challenges, recounts or contests to election results. Election authorities in each state determine their auditing processes according to state law.

Click here to learn more about how election accuracy is verified.

Voting machines have been hacked at staged demonstrations and in laboratories, but these environments do not reflect an actual election scenario where multiple layers of physical and cyber security are always in place. These measures include pre-election testing, locks, restricted access, tamper-resistant seals, chain-of-custody protocols, and voting machines which are locked down to ensure limited access, along with more advanced technology found in newer equipment.

Click here to read how researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology were unable to change votes cast using the ExpressVote XL.

Votes for candidates do not “flip” during voting. This misused term is sometimes used in connection with voters reporting that they touched the text box for one candidate and that the candidate in an adjacent text box was highlighted instead of their intended choice. Most commonly these reports stem from voter behavior – touching the screen too close to the line separating candidates or not touching the text box in the correct place. In some jurisdictions, election officials have provided a stylus to voter to help them make their selections, though the use of a stylus is not required. Occasionally, it is possible that a unit needs to be recalibrated, but those instances are rare.

It is important to remember that every touch screen ballot marking device produces a summary screen of a voter’s selections and a paper ballot of those selections. A voter should never cast a ballot until they have reviewed both the screen and the paper ballot. Ballot marking devices ensure that every vote cast is counted exactly how the voter intended, ensuring that there is never any ambiguity when trying to determine voter intent.

Watch a video on how to select a candidate on a touch screen

No. Thanks to dual-scanning technology, ES&S tabulation machines – the DS200, DS300, DS450, DS850 and DS950 – can read ballots no matter which direction they are placed in the machine.

Barcodes are a trusted, tested, universal technology used in a variety of ways across many different industries to improve safety, accuracy, speed and efficiency. DMVs, pharmacies, hospitals, banks and food manufacturers all use barcodes. Vote counting machines (called tabulators) read barcodes in the same way they read the oval positions on a paper ballot—so a summary card with barcodes contains the same data as on a hand-marked ballot. Because barcodes offer a reliable way to accurately read information, the technology all but eliminates the possibility of human error (e.g. poorly marked ballots, misinterpretation of voter intent). Displayed along with human-readable text, summary cards with barcodes are fully auditable.

Click here to read more about how barcodes are read.

Click here to watch a video about how ballots are read.

No. Modems are not present in ES&S poll place tabulators (DS200 or DS300) in states where modeming technology is not permitted or certified. In a few states it is a legal practice to use cellular modems to transmit unofficial election results after the polls are officially closed and all voting has ended. In states where modem transmission is permitted, ES&S uses mobile private network connectivity, industry best practices, and numerous security safeguards to protect the transfer of these unofficial election night results. Final official results are physically uploaded at election headquarters prior to final certification. The physical ballots and printed results tapes are always protected.

ES&S voting equipment has been proven accurate and secure through thousands of hours of testing and thousands of elections nationwide. ES&S voting machines are certified by the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) and undergo robust testing by NIST-accredited Voting System Test Laboratories (VSTLs) for accuracy, reliability, usability and security. Several states also engage independent firms to audit the security of voting machines as part of the certification examination process in their states. Along with additional independent testing engaged by ES&S and logic and accuracy testing performed by jurisdictions before every election, voters can be assured that ES&S voting systems perform as designed and certified, and ballots will be counted as cast.

Click here to learn more about the rigorous testing standards ES&S systems must meet for federal certification.

ES&S designs and builds its own software. All ES&S software is developed and compiled exclusively in the USA.

ES&S has no financial or ownership ties to any other voting system manufacturers.