As voters take to polling locations across Illinois on Tuesday, they might be wondering if their ballots are safe. Concerns about election security have exponentially grown in recent years. But Sangamon County Clerk Don Gray, speaking with Local Edition, said his office is not worried about interference in this year's midterms.
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Ben Singson
It's Local Edition. I'm Ben Singson. "Election interference" - two words that have become a very popular turn of phrase, to say the least, in recent years. As people in Illinois and across the country line up to vote in today's election, it might be something that's on their mind. So how do officials keep those ballots safe? For more on this, I turned to the Sangamon County Clerk. I am here with Sangamon County Clerk Don Gray. We are going to talk about election security. Mr. Gray, thank you very much for taking some time to talk with me.
Don Gray
It's my pleasure.
Ben Singson
All right. So, there's been a lot of concerns, both at the national level and the state levels, just about election security and election fraud and things like that. For this particular election, are you worried at all about election fraud or anything like that happening here in Sangamon County?
Don Gray
I'm not because the election authority goes at great lengths to work with many different partners to ensure that you get an accurate and accountable election. We work closely with the federal government, both from Homeland Security to the FBI, as well as the state. a number of different agencies from DOIT to the State Board of Elections and CISA. So collectively together, we're constantly monitoring the threats and making sure that we're penetrating our systems to ensure that they are free from any possibility of access of any third party or foreign entities that could manipulate and or tamper the results.
Ben Singson
Gotcha, gotcha. Has election security ever been a major concern in Sangamon County, at least in your experience?
Don Gray
Well, it's always a concern because it's a real threat. So we have to make sure that we're doing the right things so that our systems are clean from any type of foreign influence. So we are constantly practicing good cyber hygiene, internally as a staff, making sure that we're not opening any inappropriate emails or systems that could touch our systems. We're ensuring that all of our tabulation equipment has been properly tested and secured. One should know that tabulation equipment doesn't have the capability to have access to the exterior internet. we want to make sure that our reporting systems of the night of election are secured, hardened, so that when we're uploading our results, there's no access for manipulation there. So we're constantly doing the right things, investing in the right hardware and equipment and proper training of staff to make sure that none of that influence finds its way into our systems so that we always have an accurate and accountable result for the public.
Ben Singson
Gotcha, gotcha. I was reading something earlier talking about how there are a lot of states with new laws heading into this midterm election. Does Illinois have anything like that voters should be aware of?
Don Gray
When it comes to security?
Ben Singson
Just voting in general, I suppose.
Don Gray
Sure. No, nothing new. We're operating under the systems of revision that we've seen over the last decade that have been very successful to us here in Illinois. So we've always been at the forefront of providing for the very best of opportunity while we maintain the integrity and security of our systems. So, early voting is in full operation. It has been for the last 40 days during the election period. We have a permanent vote by mail list in which person people have been able to pre-register in to automatically receive their ballot. That's going swimmingly well as well. And we're very happy how things are developing across the states. I've heard things are running very smoothly for most of the states and we're real happy how things are developing. We should have a very strong election day, bringing it all to accumulation of when polls close.
Ben Singson
Gotcha, gotcha. So, could you just walk me through what security measures are in place to protect an individual ballot?
Don Gray
Right. So, this is a lot of what we do in advance of the start of the election. We want to make sure that we are properly proofing our ballots, that we are properly programming our ballots, that we're properly testing all of our equipment. We go through test decks of voting scenarios through every machine to ensure that they are reading accurately how voters will mark their ballot. The other component to this is just incredible training of election judges to make sure that voters are being properly processed on election day, that they understand how to properly mark their ballot, which is darkening in the ovals, and then that they're running them through the machines when they're finished. So it's a group effort in advance of the start of the election of proper programming, testing, and then a cooperative effort with election judges and election personnel on the day of election so that you get a result that works out really well, that's accurate, accountable, and transparent to the public.
Ben Singson
Gotcha, gotcha. Is there anything that voters themselves can do to try and just try and also help out, protect against election fraud?
Don Gray
I think the best thing for the public to do is to be cognizant of the discussion, the chatter around elections, right? Like focus on knowing that you have a trusted source in your election administrator locally, the state board of elections. that you'll always get a good answer to exactly how we operate in election administration. There's lots of discussion about election administration in the social media context that is often not accurate to actually what we do. And what we see and what has been my experience is that there can be a mistrust of the system based on this disinformation. And we don't want people to feel that way. We don't want them to be not going to a spot of accuracy of facts. And that erosion of trust on inaccurate information has really been most of what I've seen in fraud to an election, that it disenfranchises the voter to want to go out and actually cast the ballot because they think that the elections are not secure. That couldn't be farthest from the truth. We worked very hard to ensure that our systems are accurate, that they're properly programmed, that we facilitate our elections correctly through its election and other support personnel, that only those that are entitled to be able to cast a ballot do, and that when they are casting their ballot, the reflection of what they had marked on their ballot is accurately recorded on the tabulation equipment to the finalized result of the evening. So have trust in what we do and how we're operating and how we're securing it and go to a trusted source of information if you have doubts about how it is that we operate. I also encourage individuals to get active in the process, be an election judge. If you're a skeptic, come and serve and see exactly what it is and how we do it so that you can be exposed to seeing how well we do do it and that you should always trust and have good confidence in how we operate our elections.
Ben Singson
Gotcha, gotcha. Could you just go over some of the, I guess, unfounded concerns that you've heard and just kind of respond to them?
Don Gray
Sure.
Ben Singson
Like - yeah.
Don Gray
Go ahead. You gave a "like," because there's lots of areas we can go with that.
Ben Singson
Just the, like, ones that come to mind or that you see most frequently.
Don Gray
Most frequently what I hear is that your marked ballot is not a direct reflection to the results on the machine. And again, we go through an extensive testing, pre-testing procedure of test decks on every machine that goes to the field on election day. We have to account for how it's operating, how it's recording its votes, and how you should trust how it is that it's programmed and the machine's been tested to do so. So know that we do that. That's also something that is transparent to the public. We have a pre-election test that's public that the public could come to that we've got to report those results to the State Board of Elections. So there's some accountability to our regulatory agency, knowing that we operate that way. The other thing that I hear most often is that there's foreign influence and manipulation of the results. And again, we work closely with federal state partners as well as strong cybersecurity positioning of systems to ensure that no foreign entity can find access to our either tabulation equipment or us reporting our results in the evening. And we have elaborate systems of accountability for that. We have a regulatory program called the Illinois Navigator Program, where we do a lot of penetration testing with state experts to ensure that we're investing in the right equipment and that we're doing the right things for an accurate and countable result.
Ben Singson
Gotcha. Gotcha. So, if someone legitimately suspects that there is some kind of interference happening in this upcoming election, what exactly should they do?
Don Gray
Oh, they should reach out to the election office immediately. You know, we appreciate the observance and the awareness of voters on the day. If they witness something that they find to be off, or out of order to what should be done properly. We want them to reach out to your election authority so that we can properly investigate and make sure that things are being done correctly. Most often it's a misunderstanding of not being a part of the process to what they're witnessing, easily explainable. But in the same regard, we want to take no chances. We're here serving the public. We want to make sure that we have an accurate result, that one that all can trust. So any observance and any contact to us is appreciated from the public.
Ben Singson
All right. Don Gray, Sangamon County Clerk, thank you very much for talking to me.
Don Gray
You're welcome. Thanks. Have a good day.
