Big Picture Issues
– Election officials are not computer specialists, but elections rely heavily on computer technology.
– Even when known to be ineligible, a voter registration generally requires 4 or more years to be removed.
– Voting systems are built to aged standards.
– Tens of thousands of non-citizens have come to Ohio and could become registered to vote.
Voter Registration Data Validation
ISSUES: State and county voter registration systems contain numerous avoidable data entry errors.
SOLUTIONS:
- Use reference lists of names and addresses to verify new and existing voter registration records.
- Issue monthly reports to counties identifying various errors in their voter registration databases.
- Require electors’ voter registration information to match the information on their driver’s license or state identification card.
- Initiates audits of the statewide voter registration database and selected county databases by the Auditor of State
- Simplify the system for assigning unique record identifiers in the statewide voter registration database.
- Increase the frequency of review for non-citizens and other ineligible voters.
- Use a commercial service for voter registration data analysis.
Identity and Citizenship Verification
ISSUE: Insufficient safeguards to prevent non-citizens and ineligible persons from registering and voting.
SOLUTIONS:
- Provide counties with resources to verify identity and citizenship prior to registration and for absentee and provisional ballot screening.
- Expand voter registration instructions to include citizenship and other eligibility requirements.
- Introduce safeguards and procedures at social services, BMV and registration agencies to ensure that noncitizens are not misled into illegally registering to vote.
- Require an elector to vote a provisional ballot until their citizenship is verified.
Board of Voting System Examiners
ISSUE: The Board lacks cybersecurity expertise and lacks authority over voter registration systems
SOLUTIONS:
- Include cybersecurity experts on the board of voting system examiners.
- Establish standards and require certification of new voter registration systems.
- Require a cybersecurity review when certifying a voting system.
- Require publication of voting system certification reports and recommendations.
- Requires voter registration systems to be physically located in Ohio and in a facility under the board of elections control.
Cybersecurity Standards
ISSUE: Outdated standards for security of election systems.
SOLUTIONS:
- Use experts to conduct a cyber security assessment of voting systems seeking certification.
- Set standards for voting system certification based on NIST and current federal guidelines.
- Require periodic security reviews for continued certification.
- Require disclosure of software development practices as part of the security review.
- Require use of a digital blockchain ledger to log all voter registration system changes.
Audit Voter Registration Databases
- Require the Auditor of State to conduct an annual audit of the statewide voter registration database and three randomly selected counties.
Election Administration
- Requires most persons to register to vote using an Ohio driver’s license or stated identification card number.
- Requires most voters to include a copy of their voter identification when returning a mail-in ballot.
- Requires a provisional ballot to be counted when both a provisional and mail-in ballot are cast.
- Requires a voter to sign a form when updating their voter registration.
- Requires online publishing of voter and election reports.