ND Election Process Defended

Posted 3/17/21 (Wed)

NDACo, Along with County Auditors, Defend North Dakota’s Election Process

By Donnell Preskey Hushka, NDACo

North Dakota lawmakers introduced a flurry of bills in the 2021 Legislative Session targeting election reform. Election laws and the election process has been under scrutiny since the 2020 election.

“A lot of bills this Session are coming forward not to address problems in North Dakota, but over fear and in reaction to the 2020 election nationally,” testified Donnell Preskey, who serves as Executive Director for the County Auditors Association at the North Dakota Association of Counties (NDACo). During her testimony to the House Government and Veterans Affairs Committee, Preskey told committee members, “you should be proud of North Dakota’s election system. It is thanks to you, the Legislature, for providing solid election laws.”

Preskey offered to bring in election equipment and auditors to step committee members through the election process. “I guarantee, this will provide you a greater understanding in our election process, and you will feel more confident about the system we have in North Dakota.”

13031. House GVA accepted the offer and extended the invitation to the Senate GVA as well. NDACo along with McKenzie County Auditor Erica Johnsrud and Burleigh County Election Manager Erika White provided a presentation that walked legislators through the entire election process, illustrating the thorough and secure process in place. The presentation included an in-depth explanation of the absentee ballot procedures including how absentee ballots are verified and processed. In addition, Johnsrud and White explained the testing conducted on the ballot tabulators prior to the election and demonstrated how the tabulators scan ballots and tabulate the results. They emphasized how none of the election equipment is connected to the internet.

“Testing our equipment is one of many crucial tasks to ensure the results of the election are accurate and secure,” explained White. “We have a robust logic and accuracy testing process that ensures each vote for a candidate is a vote that’s counted correctly. It’s important to note that every machine and election definition or tabulating media are tested prior to being used along with all backup machines and backup media. All election equipment and media must pass all testing with 100% accuracy – no failure is acceptable.”

Representative Jim Kasper, chairman of House Government Veterans Affairs referred to this presentation on the House floor. “During our committee hearings on election bills, we kept hearing areas of concern. But I don’t think they apply to North Dakota. One concern we heard was that our election system could be hacked. Our election process is not hooked up to the internet in any shape or form. We have a highly protective system. Our committee had a presentation by NDACo, they brought in voting machines, spent about an hour going through the exact process and demonstrated how voting machines work. We are secure in North Dakota – there is no boogie-man in our elections.”

While the demonstration may have been too late to impact the committee’s recommendations on many of the election-related bills, it was apparent the demonstration assisted in educating the committee on the election process in North Dakota and will affect discussions surrounding elections into the future.

Johnsrud emphasized, “As an election official, it is important that we educate all North Dakotas about our election process. Elections aren’t as simple as just setting up some machines and printing ballots. It is important that we, as election officials, work to educate the public about the extensive work that goes into executing a successful election. Much of that work happens well in advance of Election Day, but all of that work is open to the public and we encourage anyone with questions to contact their local county auditor.”

“The demonstration organized by the North Dakota Association of Counties was very enlightening for the committee,” Representative Scott Louser said while speaking on an election bill on the House floor. “Our committee heard 40 bills in the first half of the Session; and in the process, we have learned as a committee about our system, the integrity, security and the reliability that exists.”

You can view the information presented to the House GVA here: http://bit.ly/electiondemo

Video demonstration of DS450 Central Count Scanner (used in processing absentee ballots): https://youtu.be/rbEBut4U5e8