Warning. With remote access to e-poll books (yes, vendors have it & I’m told they pass around a url to watch), bad actors cld track in real time how many votes they need & where to alter election outcomes. This wld NOT work w/ vote by mail. 1/

I remain very concerned about e-pollbooks, which have exploded in use since 2016. A former election official told me about the Election Day remote access & URL. 2/
I wrote about America’s largest e-pollbook vendor, Knowink, here. Knowink is managed by a former Republican election official. It’s product manager is Religious Right. It’s products are in 23 states now. 3/ https://t.co/mbxFpCpFoQ
I was told about the passing around of a URL re: Tenex. They can watch voters sign in as they sign in. They can tell what party they are from. 4/
In theory, w/ e-pollbooks (electronic sign ins), bad actors cld fraudulently sign in real voters who rarely vote in order to pad vote totals. This wld work best at the end of Election Day. Mail voting wld obviously throw this off. 5/
These are risks. I do not know if any of this occurred. But they are risks. And a former election official was worried enough to mention it to me about Tenex. 6/
“The [Kentucky] State Finance and Administration Cabinet awarded a contract for electronic poll books to Tenex Software Solutions, a Tampa, Florida-based company, for up to 5,500 e-poll books for the state's 3,732 voting precincts.” - 7/26/19
7/https://t.co/CpRzENXPON
8/ I keep trying to figure out why bad actors might prefer in person voting to vote by mail. Both systems use hackable electronics. At the moment, we don’t conduct evidence-based elections with either system. But this is one reason why they might prefer in person voting.
9/ The phrase evidence-based election was coined by @philipbstark. This is what it means.
10/ I’m not sure what this is about but I hope to find out! @robchandhok https://t.co/iefnbhVL54
11/ BTW, vote by mail does use #HandMarkedPaperBallots, ie, a reliable paper trail, which is another reason why I prefer it to touchscreen voting machines. Even when touchscreens generate paper records, the records often put votes into unverifiable QR code’s & barcodes & many...
12/ ... experts consider them too unreliable to provide the basis for a reliable audit or recount (even if they didn’t use barcodes or QR codes). https://t.co/tyQcsu45Fz
13/ But I do not want to suggest that we are conducting evidence-based elections with either in person voting or vote by mail. Because we aren’t. And we must demand that and change that ASAP.

More from Jennifer Cohn ✍🏻 📢

IMO, the #SAFEAct is better on election security than HR1 bc it wld ban most touchscreen voting machines currently available. HR1 wld allow them as a primary in person system bc vendors call the paper they spit out a “paper ballot.” Pen & paper is safer #HandMarkedPaperBallots 1/


I have not looked at other aspects of HR1. It addresses more than election security. The #SAFEAct shld be the starting point for election security reform in my opinion. 2/

HR1 requires that all voters have the option to mark their ballots by hand. But it does not specify that, for jurisdictions with in person voting, the hand marked (pen & paper) option must be available for in person voting (vs it only being an option w/ vote by mail). 3/

HR1 may still be a good start. But it does not go nearly far enough on election security. Here are my suggestions for election security. Maybe these could be addressed in a later bill, but we shld keep them on our radar. 4/ https://t.co/mNdHrvwHcN


The key section is 1502. IMO, it shld add the following. “For jurisdictions that offer in person voting, the option to mark a paper ballot by hand must be offered at the in-person polling location; giving this option only for vote by mail won’t suffice for such jurisdictions.” 5/

More from Politics

All the challenges to Leader Pelosi are coming from her right, in an apparent effort to make the party even more conservative and bent toward corporate interests.

Hard pass. So long as Leader Pelosi remains the most progressive candidate for Speaker, she can count on my support.


I agree that our party should, and must, evolve our leadership.

But changed leadership should reflect an actual, evolved mission; namely, an increased commitment to the middle + working class electorate that put us here.

Otherwise it’s a just new figure with the same problems.

I hope that we can move swiftly to conclude this discussion about party positions, so that we can spend more time discussing party priorities: voting rights, healthcare, wages, climate change, housing, cannabis legalization, good jobs, etc.

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