No. Some people are alleging or implying that routine software updates to voting equipment such as mechanical tabulators will destroy records. This is incorrect.
Voting machine data is extremely important to election integrity. Fortunately, the election results reporting system in Wisconsin is secure, resilient, and redundant. The implied claim behind these rumors is that external actors accessed voting equipment remotely in order to change results and alter a nationwide election (but not, somehow, state or local races). Fundamental to the implied threat is the absence of any specific theory proposing a viable path to the end result. To date, no one has advanced a plausible theory illustrating how the remote electronic manipulation of certain election results in Wisconsin (among over 3,000 reporting units) could overcome municipal, county, and state security measures, circumvent the Canvass process, and avoid detection during reconciliation.
Each and every ballot cast in Wisconsin is backed by a voter verifiable paper record. Wisconsin is one of many states that prohibit purely electronic voting and Wisconsin election officials have consistently rejected proposals to introduce such systems to the state. Altering electronic records is, therefore, meaningless without also altering these individual paper records – one for each voter. Even if it were possible to alter voting machine data, the bad actor would also have to alter the paper record for every single ballot they wished to change. These paper records are never held centrally – they are secured amongst the thousands of town, village, city and county clerks in Wisconsin.
The electronic results transmitted on election night are unofficial and are but one part of the process. Official results require many weeks to prepare and undergo scrutiny at the local, county, and state levels. Statutorily required audit processes validate paper records, such as ballots and voting machine results tapes, by hand and cannot be manipulated by electronic trickery.
What if electronic records were manipulated, and thousands of paper records were forged? Would this be sufficient to alter the election results without detection? No. Election participation is recorded by poll workers at each polling place both on paper and electronically. Absentee ballot records are likewise recorded at 1,850 individual cities, towns and villages across Wisconsin – in most cases weeks before the election. Following every election, local clerks participate in a deliberate reconciliation process to meticulously compare both electronic and paper records to ensure figures match. This process is monitored by state election officials who help local officials identify and resolve any discrepancies. When evidence of fraud is detected, state officials can and do refer the cases to County District Attorneys for prosecution.
Data is not stored on tabulators. In fact, most tabulators are incapable of network connections. Only 25 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties use modem-equipped devices to transmit unofficial data wirelessly on election night. Regardless of whether a tabulator has a modem or not, data isn’t stored on tabulators because they need to be available for the next election. Clerks are expected to erase tabulator data between elections. This does not mean that data is destroyed. Wis. Stat. § 7.23(1)(g) governs data retained on electronic voting systems. It states:
"Detachable recording units and compartments for use with tabulating equipment for an electronic voting system may be cleared or erased 14 days after any primary and 21 days after any other election. Before clearing or erasing the units or compartments, a municipal clerk shall transfer the data contained in the units or compartments to a disk or other recording medium which may be erased or destroyed 22 months after the election to which the data relates. The requirement to transfer data does not apply to units or compartments for use with tabulating equipment for an electronic voting system that was approved for use prior to January 1, 2009, and that is not used in a federal election." Wis. Stat. § 7.23(1)(g)
The statute expressly authorizes the erasure of data from tabulating equipment while also stating the mechanism to backup data. All tabulating equipment used in Wisconsin employs external memory devices and most systems have redundant storage with a second or even a third storage module. This external storage of data allows clerks to easily clear the devices and prepare them for the next use.
What if the clerk fails to backup the data? Both tabulators and election management systems used to collect results maintain independent systems recording events on each device.
What about device IP logs? An IP log is generally understood to mean a list of internet protocol addresses that either attempted to connect, or did connect, with a device. As noted above, most election equipment has no connectivity at all. Those that do possess specialist equipment to secure and monitor their connections. Any number of devices participating in an internet connection may log (record) information and there is no standard for an “IP log.” Device firewalls typically retain firewall logs. The SFTP server may retain logs of connections attempted. Operating systems maintain their own event logs that track attempts to connect to the device or to manipulate information on the device. Each of these logs may contain IP address information. Both tabulators and election management systems maintain logs separate from the election data that clerks may delete. The hardware and software employed varies by manufacturer.
Will software updates erase device logs? No. System updates are no more likely to erase election equipment data than the latest Windows update is likely to erase all the information on your computer. Software updates are a normal and a necessary part of technology that increase the security of machines used to administer elections. These software updates are offered by the manufacturer and Wisconsin towns, cities, villages and counties may elect to accept or decline the updates as they see fit.