Ray Vandenberg (left) and his life partner Jean Clarke were big losers on election night in November 2014. Now they’re complaining to council that the voting machines used can easily be tampered with or hacked to misrepresent voting results. (Richard McGuire file photo)
There is no proof the automated voting machines used by the Town of Osoyoos to count votes during municipal elections and public referendums are defective in any way, said Mayor Sue McKortoff after it was suggested the machines have programming and security faults that make them vulnerable to hacking.
Ray Vandenberg, a former town councillor who ran for mayor against McKortoff in the municipal election November of 2014, and his partner Jean Clarke, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat on town council during the same election, made a presentation to town council Monday asking council to replace the machines and resort to hand-counting ballots before the next municipal election in 2018.
“It has recently come to light that these machines have serious programming and security faults and are vulnerable to hacking,” said Clarke during her presentation to council on Monday. “A review of five computer scientific research papers identify … severe security issues.”
The machines are called the AccuVote OS and were purchased by the town back in 2008 and used in the last three municipal elections.
Clarke suggested the machines have numerous technical deficiencies.
They include allowing votes cast for a candidate to not be properly recorded and votes being reported incorretly.
An attacker has the remote ability to have the memory card miscount the ballots that have been inserted into the machine or have votes nullified altogether, she said.
A hacker can also temporarily disable the printer of the machine to allow compromises to the software and can program in whatever desired results are wanted.
Clarke said these scientific papers make it clear, in her opinion, that these machines are vulnerable to interference, as well as to having imbedded programming faults, and town council should no longer use them in future voting processes.
“We are asking council on behalf of the citizens of Osoyoos, that we can no longer continue to use these automated ballot counting machines and the current bylaw be rescinded in its entirety immediately,” she said.
McKortoff said she looked at the studies presented by Clarke and Vandenberg, but said town staff use extreme caution when conducting municipal elections and public referendums and there is no indication that the machines used by the town malfunctioned or didn’t work appropriately at any time.
“I feel quite comfortable with the process used by town staff,” she said. “We even brought in a chartered accountant to make sure they ran properly.
“Many tests were done and I have confidence we made sure everything was done correctly.”
In the months before the next municipal election in the fall of 2018, the council of the day will have the opportunity to discuss this issue in more detail, but she’s not inclined to discuss this issue any more at this time, said McKortoff.
“I just don’t see the urgency to deal with this immediately, but we do appreciate you (Clarke and Vandenberg) bringing this to our attention.”
When Clarke reiterated the scientific papers she presented to council indicate the machines don’t work properly and should no longer be used by the town, McKortoff said she hasn’t heard or seen anything to suggest the machines haven’t worked properly since being purchased by the town seven years ago.
“We have yet to see any proof there is a problem,” she said. “We have done everything we can do to ensure we have an accurate count.”
Coun. C. J. Rhodes also defended the use of ballot counting machines saying the vast majority of municipalities across British Columbia use them and there hasn’t been a single reported incident of automated ballot counting machines not working properly.
“There are a tremendous amount of municipalities that use these vote counting machines … at last count, I had it at 75 in B.C. alone,” said Rhodes. “Many school districts use them as well.
“There hasn’t been one incident or one complaint, verbal or written, that spoke against these machines.”
Clarke and Vandenberg said several local citizens share the same concerns, but wouldn’t share their names when asked by members of council.
McKortoff made it clear the town has no intention now or in the near future of getting rid of the ballot counting machines as suggested by Clarke and Vandenberg.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
