LANSING, Mich. (AP) — New measures to bolster security for Michigan's 2018 midterm elections were announced this month, but experts said they don't address all past gripes with state procedures.
During this year's May election and November general election, Michigan will hand-count ballots for all precincts selected in the post-election audit, secretary of state spokesman Fred Woodhams said.
The state currently uses paper ballots that are scanned through optical voting machines. Past elections' audits required reviewing voting machine equipment as well as procedural compliance of poll workers, he said, but did not entail recounting paper ballots.
"We thought it would give Michigan residents more confidence in election results," Woodhams said about the new ballot validation process. "Part of the reason why we created post-election audits is to ensure accountability."
Woodhams said the state has also replaced all election equipment since the 2016 presidential race, paid for by $40 million in state and federal funds. Additionally, Michigan's Department of Technology, Management and Budget added a dozen full-time cybersecurity staffers since the 2016 election, spokesman Caleb Buhs said.
The ramp-up follows national concern over reports of Russian hacking efforts in 21 states during the 2016 presidential election. Michigan was not one of them.
But the reforms don't fully reassure Alex Halderman, a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan. He noted that under Michigan procedure, post-election audits occur after the results are already certified, rendering the practice moot when it comes to disputing a race outcome.
"It severely limits the utility of an audit if you do it months after an election and creates more opportunity for pieces of paper to be lost or tampered with," he said.
Halderman said Michigan must conduct "risk-limiting audits," a model that scours the statistical sample of ballots based on the margin of victory. The practice — recently required by New Mexico, Colorado and Rhode Island — is endorsed by researchers.
Woodhams said post-election audits conducted by the Bureau of Elections and county clerks usually happen weeks or months after election night. After the November 2017 election, 164 precincts were audited, seven of which piloted the new ballot validation system, he said. This November, 300 of Michigan's 4,800 precincts will be audited. The practice began in 2012 to ensure accountability, Woodhams said.
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