Michigan prosecutors charge Trump allies in felonies involving voting machines, illegal ‘testing’ | Joey Cappelletti/Associated Press

Matthew DePerno, a former Republican attorney general candidate who was endorsed by Donald Trump, and Daire Rendon, a supporter of Trump and a former Republican state representative, have been charged in Michigan for accessing and tampering with voting machines after the 2020 election. DePerno was charged with undue possession of a voting machine and conspiracy, while Rendon was charged with conspiracy to commit undue possession of a voting machine and false pretenses. They are accused of taking five vote tabulators from three counties to a hotel room and performing “tests” on the equipment. Both have denied wrongdoing, but DePerno has been named as a “prime instigator” in the case. These charges are part of the legal consequences some are facing for crimes committed after embracing Trump’s false claim of a stolen election. The former president himself is also under investigation for election interference in Georgia. Read Article

Michigan lawsuit to ‘rerun’ 2020 election dismissed by federal judge | Clara Hendrickson/Detroit Free Press

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to decertify the 2020 presidential election and order a new one. The lawsuit, filed against Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, alleged malfeasance in the election results. The judge stated that many of the allegations lacked proof or resolution and were based on tired examples that have been debated for years. The lawsuit’s dismissal is another failed attempt to challenge the election outcome, with post-election audits and investigations upholding the results. Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel welcomed the decision, emphasizing the importance of upholding democracy and the accuracy of elections. Read Article

Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office tests ES&S ExpressVote ballot marking devices with new ‘skinny’ ballots | Rochelle Olsen/Star Tribune

Minnesota’s voting process underwent scrutiny as election officials from Secretary of State Steve Simon’s office tested new voting machines in an open-door session. The machines, provided by Election Systems & Software (ES&S), are designed to allow voters to mark ballots using a touch screen and generate smaller ballots that are more accessible for people with disabilities. The certification process is public and subject to open meetings laws, aiming to inspire confidence in the election system. The results will be presented to Secretary Simon for approval, and if passed, cities and counties can purchase these machines for upcoming elections. Read Article

As New Hampshire voting machines age, state weighs alternatives | Ethan DeWitt/New Hampshire Bulletin

Many cities and towns in New Hampshire are using Accuvote machines to count ballots in elections, but the machines are growing old and facing difficulties due to the lack of manufacturing and parts availability. The state is now considering a necessary upgrade to replace the aging machines. Town and city clerks and moderators will gather in Concord for a demonstration of three possible candidates to replace the Accuvote tabulators, and the Ballot Law Commission will decide which machines to approve for future use. While some municipalities are eagerly anticipating the approval of new machines, others are content with their current Accuvote machines but acknowledge the need for an upgrade. The decision will be crucial as the presidential primary election in February 2024 approaches. Read Article

New York State Board of Elections certifies controversial ES&S ExpressVoteXL voting machines | Joshua Solomon/Albany Times-Union

The New York State Board of Elections voted 3-1 to allow counties to purchase a digital voting machine called the ExpressVote XL, which has been a subject of concern for voting rights groups and good government advocates. The decision comes after more than five hours of debate, during which the commissioners discussed potential security issues with the machine’s software and the need for hand audits. While some commissioners expressed concerns about the machine’s security and transparency, others supported it as a way to improve the voting experience for people with disabilities and non-English speakers. The use of digital voting machines has been a controversial topic, with former President Donald Trump raising concerns about potential fraud with voting machines in the 2020 election. Read Article

New York: Critics unhappy with Board of Elections certification of ES&S ExpressVoteXL | Susan Arbetter/Spectrum News

The New York State Board of Elections has voted to certify the ExpressVote XL Universal Voting System, a touch-screen voting machine that displays the entire ballot on a 32-inch screen. The system aims to eliminate the need for interpretation of a voter’s intent, which has been an issue in the state. However, the new technology has faced criticism from cybersecurity election experts and good-government groups like Common Cause, who prefer voter-marked paper ballots read by scanners. Concerns include the system’s cost, potential security vulnerabilities with Windows 10 (which it uses), and the lack of direct control for voters to verify their selections. The certification comes with two amendments, one addressing ongoing improvement and testing issues and the other requiring hand audits of all ExpressVote XL summary cards. Read Article

Opinion: ExpressVote XL “fix” doesn’t fix anything | Andrew Appel/Freedom to Tinker

Five years ago I described a serious security flaw in the design of all-in-one voting machines made by two competing manufacturers, ES&S and Dominion. These all-in-one machines work like this: the voter indicates choices on a touchscreen; then a printer prints the votes onto a paper ballot; the voter has a chance to review the ballot to make sure the right choices are printed; then the machine sends the ballot past an optical scanner to record and tabulate the votes. Then the mechanism drops the paper into a ballot box where it is saved for recounts or audits. The reason we have paper (in addition to the optical scanner’s computer-count of the votes) is for our protection, in case the software in the voting machine is hacked. The votes printed on the paper and seen by the voter, can be seen again by the humans performing the recount or audit. The fatal flaw is having the ballot printer in the same paper path that goes from the voter to the ballot box. That’s because the machinery (printer, scanner, motor-driven rollers) is controlled by the software, and if the software is hacked (replaced by fraudulent software) then the software can make the machinery do things “out of proper order”. In particular, after the voter approves the ballot and touches the “cast-vote” button on-screen, the software is supposed to convey the ballot past the scanner into the ballot box; but hacked software can direct the machinery to take a detour past the printer, where additional votes are printed on to the ballot that the voter did not approve. Read Article

North Carolina: ‘Ripe for political violence’: US election officials are quitting at an alarming rate | Daniel Walton/The Guardian

Adam Byrnes, a 21-year-old political science graduate from Emory University, is serving as the director of elections for Swain County, a critical swing state region in western North Carolina. He took on the role before graduating and is currently preparing for municipal elections in Bryson City while laying the foundations for the 2024 presidential contest. Byrnes is among a new wave of election officials entering the field, as at least 40 of North Carolina’s 100 counties have had to replace their election directors in the last four years due to retirements, resignations, and other career moves. These new officials are faced with handling a complex voting system and heightened work-related stress, especially in a politically charged environment. They must navigate changes in election laws and address controversial issues, such as voter ID requirements, while trying to build trust and ensure fair elections. Read Article

Wisconsin: Fighting election denial one community at a time | Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner

Former Republican state Sen. Kathy Bernier and Keep Our Republic, a nonprofit organization, held an event at the Chippewa County Courthouse to restore voters’ trust in Wisconsin’s election systems and counter election misinformation. The event aimed to provide accurate information about the state’s election administration to community leaders and local election officials, so they can respond accurately to voter concerns and questions. Bernier, who has been pushing back against 2020 election conspiracies, hopes that by providing facts and information about the election system, it will help address concerns about election integrity and misinformation that have arisen since the 2020 election. Read Article

How a Wisconsin official became ‘a scapegoat’ for voter fraud falsehoods | Alice Herman/The Guardian

The future of Meagan Wolfe, Wisconsin’s top election administrator, is uncertain as her reappointment has turned into a political showdown with Republicans in the state. Wolfe, a respected and experienced elections official, has been targeted by right-wing conspiracy theories about her role in the 2020 election. False claims that the election was stolen have been pointed at the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), with Wolfe being blamed as a conspirator to deliver the presidency to Democrats. Her reappointment has become a contentious issue, with right-wing activists and public figures opposing it, leading to concerns about the continued distrust in Wisconsin’s elections as the state approaches another presidential election year. Despite her record of successfully running clean elections during a difficult time in 2020, the attacks on Wolfe persist, and the situation has become a worrying trend for elections experts. Read Article