Cape County clerk: Security tight for counting votes in November election

Some local voters worry November election results could be hacked, but Cape Girardeau County Clerk Kara Clark Summers said her office maintains tight security on the voting process.

“People are so worried about this election,” she said, adding that worries about computer hacking are “just on people’s minds.”

Summers said she has answered phone calls from numerous county residents who wonder if vote results could be manipulated.

Summers said she takes the time to reassure them about the election process and how ballots are counted.

“We test every machine to see that it is counting votes correctly,” Summers said. “We have so many precautions in place.”

Cape Girardeau County does not have touch-screen balloting, a system used in some Missouri counties. Summers said Cape Girardeau County uses an optical-scan system to record the votes cast on paper ballots.

In Missouri, county election officials test the machines before and after elections to make sure they are working properly. Summers said a “test deck” of ballots is run through every vote-counting machine to make sure every vote is counted accurately, and the machines immediately reject any ballots where there were over votes so voters can revote a new ballot.

The memory sticks in the machines are sealed and locked in the vote-counting machines and stored in a locked room before delivery to each polling place, Summers said.

After the election, the results are rechecked in two randomly chosen precincts. Members of a verification board hand count the ballots to see if they match with the machine-tabulated results, she said.

Military ballots will be accepted until noon the Friday after an election, Summers said.

Election officials in each of Missouri’s counties have to certify all election results within two weeks after an election.

Summers said it would be difficult to manipulate election results via computer hacking because Cape Girardeau County’s vote-counting equipment is not connected to the internet.

The vote information on the memory sticks is downloaded onto a computer at the county administration building that is not connected to the internet. Staff then input the results into another computer that provides the public with internet access to voting results.

The FBI recently warned election officials across the country to boost their election security in light of evidence hackers breached state election websites in Arizona and Illinois. Those incidents involved online voter registration. Summers said it did not involve a breach of any voting machines.

Meanwhile, Cape Girardeau County is upgrading its touch-pad, voter sign-in system. It will be used at polling places for the first time in the Nov. 8 election, Summers said.

The new Poll Pad equipment has battery bases that will power the devices throughout election day. The devices also swivel automatically so voters can check their registration information and confirm their identities.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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