Audit set for Pa. voter registration system over hacking concerns

By Katie Meyer, WITF June 11, 2018

Pennsylvania’s auditor general is launching a review of the state’s voting and registration process, following up on concerns Russians attempted to interfere in the 2016 elections. The review will focus on the security of the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors — or SURE — system, which tracks registration data on the state and county level, said Auditor General Eugene DePasquale.

There’s no evidence foreign hackers successfully breached Pennsylvania’s voting and registration systems, he said. But “there is zero question that Russians tried to hack it and to interfere in the 2016 election process in Pennsylvania, and at least 20 other states,” according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Calling the 16-year-old SURE system “outdated,” DePasquale said the audit will help the Department of State come up with a plan to replace it. State Sen. Kim Ward recently sponsored legislation that sought to launch a similar review. The Westmoreland County Republican said, on a basic level, the audit should give voters peace of mind. It’s just so important that we put some integrity back in the system, so that the voters have confidence when they go to the polls, that what they do matters,” she said.

In a separate effort to increase poll security, Gov. Tom Wolf issued an order earlier this year mandating that counties update their voting machines to use paper ballots, which are considered easier to double check than electronic-only machines. Secretary of State Robert Torres said talks are ongoing about how counties will actually pay for across-the-board upgrades, but there’s no solution yet. “The only money we have toward that effort is the nearly $14 million that was provided by the federal government,” he said. Torres has previously estimated it would cost between $100 million to $150 million for all the counties in the commonwealth to update their machines. However, he was adamant that new machines are necessary.

https://whyy.org/articles/audit-set-for-pa-voter-registration-system-over-hacking-concerns/

Pa. finds a SURE way to integrate voter rolls

By Trudy Walsh
Aug 14, 2002

Pennsylvania's 67 counties have 67 different voter registration rolls, said program manager Ted Koval. Each county maintains its own voter records. Without a statewide searching mechanism, it was difficult for counties to check on voters who had moved or died and were still listed on the rolls, Koval said.

Last month Pennsylvania signed an agreement with Accenture LLP of Chicago to develop the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors (SURE), a system that will consolidate the voter-registration data of the state's counties.

'We'll have cleaner, more efficient, more accurate voter rolls as a result of SURE,' Koval said. Counties will access a central Microsoft SQL Server database using Election Systems Manager software from Election.com Inc. of Garden City, N.Y., which will run on Pennsylvania's statewide fiber-optic network. Unisys Corp. is providing data warehouse equipment. Users will access SURE on desktop PCs running Windows 2000.

One of the biggest jobs ahead is converting the counties' 7.8 million registered voter records into a uniform format, Koval said. 'But it's usually not the technology that poses a challenge, it's change,' said Meg McLaughlin, global managing partner for Accenture's e-democracy industry group.

https://gcn.com/Articles/2002/08/14/Pa-finds-a-SURE-way-to-integrate-voter-rolls.aspx