By Guy Page
The Vermont Secretary of State’s Office is now installing new Dominion ballot tabulating machines in every Vermont town and municipality using ballot tabulators, Director of Elections Will Senning confirmed Friday afternoon.
The machines replace the AccuVote models used for all recent elections, including the 2020 general election.
HACKABLE?: Vermont’s voting system has been based on the use of an optical scanning unit that has a reputation for being easy to hack through the machine’s removable memory cards.
Earlier on Friday, a reader emailed photographs of new Dominion machines being installed at polls in South Burlington. An inquiry to City Clerk Donna Kinville confirmed that fact and led to a call to Senning.
A 2013 state law says that “All municipalities that have voted to use a voting machine shall use a uniform voting machine approved by the secretary of state.”
The new machines have an important added feature over the old models, both Senning and Kinville said: they capture an optical image of every ballot. The old machines scanned every ballot, recorded the results, and printed them out on a piece of paper. The new machines do that too, but also record an image of every ballot scanned.
The new machines have no modem, no USB port, and no way to connect to the Internet, Senning said.
All 140 towns and cities using tabulators are having their machines replaced. The other 110 or so municipalities – all small towns – will continue to hand count their ballots.
Senning was asked if he has any doubts about using Dominion machines, which have faced criticism for playing a role in alleged ballot fraud during the 2020 presidential election.
No, he said. “The claims that arose about them from the 2020 election are false.”
The machines are provided by election service contractors LHS, longtime clients of the Vermont Secretary of State’s office. According to its website, “for more than 20 years, LHS marketed the highly regarded AccuVote tabulating systems. We have more than 4000 AccuVote systems installed and will continue to support the AccuVote well into the future. Our latest voting solution is the Image-Cast line of products by Dominion Voting Systems. These products are among the most advanced technologies on the market today.”
Senning said continuity and job satisfaction were major factors in the Secretary of State’s Office decision to continue with LHS.
A June 3 U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Agency review found nine vulnerabilities in the Dominion optical scanning machines. “While these vulnerabilities present risks that should be mitigated as soon as possible, CISA has no evidence that these vulnerabilities have been exploited in any elections,” the report said.
“Exploitation of these vulnerabilities would require physical access to individual ImageCast X devices, access to the Election Management System (EMS), or the ability to modify files before they are uploaded to ImageCast X devices. Jurisdictions can prevent and/or detect the exploitation of these vulnerabilities by diligently applying the mitigations recommended in this advisory, including technical, physical, and operational controls that limit unauthorized access or manipulation of voting systems,” the CISA report said.
Guy Page is publisher of the Vermont Daily Chronicle. Reprinted with permission.
As one who has been involved whether as a Justice of the Peace or Selectboard member in local elections for nearly three decades, my experience is that Town Clerks and those involved in counting and handling ballots take their responsibility for accuracy incredibly seriously. I can not recall examples of voter fraud in Vermont, and certainly no election in Vermont in which fraud was a determning factor in the result.
There have been many close elections with recounts. These include most notably in 2020 when then Speaker of the House, Democrat Mitzi Johnson, was defeated by a few votes. It would seem if votes could be changed to effect an outcome, this would be one race where that would have been done.
The updated voter tabulation machine seems to help prevent fraud even further by scanning and keeping records of each ballot which can then be verified if a problem with the machine is suspected by comparison with the actual paper ballots.
The problem is not fraud in elections in Vermont, but that too many seats and offices in our State go uncontested by Republicans. We need more Republicans to file and do the hard work and present an alternative to the current legislature which is dominated by too many impractical and unrealistic members of the other parties. If there is still an opening in your District it is not too late to have your name be submitted by your Republican Committee.
You said “those involved in counting and handling ballots take their responsibility for accuracy incredibly seriously.”
That may be so, but Senning and Winters, with his absurd theatrical denials, have done nothing but lie. Why? Their guilty behavior makes it obvious they’re hiding something.
Who is up to making VT return these fallacious machines? And how would you, by outcry or legal move?
I saw the Sec of State halve a candidates unofficial vote count, it was in 2010 or 2012, I believe, moving it from 6k + to 3 k+, because the candidate was “the marijuana candidate”. The State didn’t want everyone to know how many people voted for her.
They gave no explanation other than the first count was a mistake, now corrected. Of course they knew she did not have deep pockets.
Every tool should be used.
I’m not an attorney, but could citizens file suit on the grounds that the use of machines proven to be designed for systemic fraud violates our rights under equal protections?
We need an honest SOS. And an honest Governor. Phil Scott lied repeatedly that “it was a free, fair and legal election” and “only legal votes are being counted.” Our elected officials are perpetrating fraud against us. Calling their bonds may be another avenue of recourse.
https://www.thestandardsc.org/jay-greenberg/judge-releases-dominion-audit-report-system-designed-to-create-systemic-fraud/
1) The more complicated it is, the more Dem/Progs love it, because it gives more opportunities to cheat.
WATCH THE POLL STATIONS LIKE A HAWK
BE A POLL WORKER
These machines likely are capable of NEAR-FIELD COMMUNICATION, NFC, just as I can walk around my house with my iPad and stay WIRELESSLY connected to my in-house network, which connects to ALL my other apple devices.
In a similar manner, the Dominion machines can be WIRELESSLY connected to centralized Election Office computers to tally up any vote, as needed.
Vermont has a huge, bloated voters list, so there are many names to play with, courtesy of CONDOS/DONOVAN
Vermont has UNIVERSAL mail-out of ballots to anyone on the bloated voter list!
Vermont has UNIVERSAL HARVESTING of ballots, meaning anyone can be a MULE to collect, and fill in “spare” ballots, to advance Dem/Prog candidates
Town Clerks are not ALLOWED, BY LAW, to ask for any ID, or any citizen papers, etc.
Anyone can walk in, citizen or not, resident or not, from anywhere, sign an Affidavit, and get registered to vote!!!
2) Elections Methods in Europe Should be Adopted by the United States
In Germany, 85 million people, and France 75 million people, there are
No drop boxes
No mail-in ballots
No ballot harvesting
No early voting
Every CITIZEN has a personal identity card with a unique number
The cards of non-citizens are identical, but have a different color; THEY DO NO VOTE
A passport, which has the same bio information, can be used instead of an identity card
The passports of non-citizens have a different color
The identity cards and passports are very difficult to forge.
Your address on the card determines your location to vote
There are NO REGISTERED VOTER LISTS
No machines and computers are used, by LAW
All ballots are hand counted
The count takes about 2 to 3 days to complete, as was demonstrated in Franc a few weeks ago.
The above should be the US national standard for all elections, including state and local elections
“The claims that arose about them from the 2020 election are false.” ???
Senning is an absolute moron.
I bet he thinks the bioweapon shots are safe and affective too.
And there’s now officially no reason to vote. Faaaaaantastic. Not like it would have mattered before this.
I’m in where it all happened, Maricpoa County….and I met a poll worker who was on the election floors….they could not believe what they saw…and when they tried to report, were ignored. The crux is…some DOMINION vote machines did have access ports to the internet. The forensic auit found the ports. And most in AZ vote by mail in ballots…and there are drop boxes too…but in the end all ballots get passed thru…you guessed it!!!!….a Dominion count machine…and they are not all secure, nor do they check validity of each ballot, they just run them thru …..which is why you saw more than 70,000 mail in ballots counted….than were ever sent out..
“Audit analyst Ben Cotton said at the hearing that there was a breach of computer systems in Maricopa County in the 2020 election. “This is important because Dominion officials testified under oath that their machines were not accessible from the Internet,”
“The audit team announced that 74,243 more mail-in ballots were included in the Maricopa County official tally than were mailed out. Joe Biden won Arizona by a margin of just 10,457 votes.
Other findings reported at the hearing:
• 3,981 voted despite having registered after the Oct. 15 deadline.
• 11,326 voted who were not on voter rolls on Nov. 7, but were on Dec 4.
• 18,000 voted and then were removed from rolls after the election.
yes but the good news is there was no voter fraud. just ask any democrat.
Keith…Maricopa is on high alert for Democrat/Progressive Fraud, steal & cheating…preliminary elections here are early August. Questionable things were everywhere in 2020….and Dems and Dem appointed judges shut it all down….Clinton strategy…stall, delay, then deny…and if theat does not work at first….sue! They will find liberal judges/jurisdictions to throw it all out. There is NO way that Joe Biden got 81 million votes…when TWO TERM Barrack Obama…who is widely seen as a “Man-God-Who-Walks-on-Water”….only got 70 MILLION VOTES???? Biden is widely known to Democrats (AS WELL AS TO OBAMA)… as a political imbecile & moron… compared to Obama, but Obama got over 90% of black vote…huge percentage of hispanic and about 80%- 85% of the Jewish vote? SO WHERE did Biden get 11 million MORE VOTES than Obama? There is a very simple answer – and the nation is paying for it now – in a big way. It is what tactics Obama, Bernie & the Clinton’s subscribe to, and worship….Saul Alinsky tactics… “Rules for Radicals” (there are no honest rules)…read them…anything goes – if it achieves the end. OH! and so sorry…your vote in Vermont – means squat.
Whatever it takes to stay in power, mail in ballots now this. The voters really need to clean house.
Didn’t the Secretary learn anything from 2020, you talk about inept fools in charge
spending taxpayer money on hackable junk equipment, but then again if you need
an edge to win…………….. this is it !!!
Wake up people, look at who’s in charge and look at the condition of the state.
There doesn’t need to be a USB port, or an internet port on the device! I can simply have internal antenna for wifi. WE all know about wireless charging and air transfer of files. This is truly a coup. To suggest that these machines are secure. and to state unequivocally that dominions were safe last cycle, NO. The judges never examined the evidence. I spent some time watching those who did. There was traffic overseas, making foreign involvement a thing of last election. Never mind 2000 mules. These people are being dishonest, these machines can upload without a USB or a cable. Everyone knows that. WE do transactions that way all the time now.
Emily,
Give us some examples
Thank you for this (below). What examples are you looking for that I referred to? The ones you posted? Good work.
from Willem: “These machines likely are capable of NEAR-FIELD COMMUNICATION, NFC, just as I can walk around my house with my iPad and stay WIRELESSLY connected to my in-house network, which connects to ALL my other apple devices.
In a similar manner, the Dominion machines can be WIRELESSLY connected to centralized Election Office computers to tally up any vote, as needed.”
You are correct that there was foreign involvement in the last election. Military intelligence source I follow asserts it was captured in real time by Space Force, whose jurisdiction is not just outer space, but digital space.
“You had British intelligence officers at a location in Italy and that location was downloading and uploading digital data through the NATO satellite system into Frankfurt and then back here to the Dominion machines. These Dominion machines had modems in them for communicating cellular signals digital signals.”
https://rumble.com/vhqu75-juan-o.-savin-flipping-the-vote-in-those-machines-is-equal-to-a-digital-pea.html
https://t.me/VermontCitizenMedia/1281
No surpise there! VT wants to use Dominion machines that can be “frauded”. A week ago, the FEDERAL GOV’T CYBER AGENCY released their findfngs of “Dominion” machines in GA….and unequivocally “Dominion” can be frauded,.Here is summary and lonk.
“Electronic voting machines from a leading vendor have software vulnerabilitiesthat could be exploited by hackers if the weaknesses are not addressed promptly, according to a report from a top “””U.S. cybersecurity agency”””. Hardware from “””Dominion Voting Systems””” in at least 16 states has nine vulnerabilities that must be addressed to avoid exploitation in future elections, reads a Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency report obtained by the Associated Press.
Alex Halderman, a computer science professor at the University of Michigan, authored that report, detailing alleged vulnerabilities in “””Dominion””” equipment. “There are systemic problems with the way election equipment is developed, tested, and certified… Halderman, …was granted access to “”””Dominion voting equipment “””in Fulton County and produced a 25,000-word report. He found that malicious software could be installed in voting touchscreens to alter QR codes printed on ballots that are then scanned to record votes, or a hacker could wreak havoc by gaining access to election management system computers.”
Way to go Vermont :)…..anything is fair to do – if it achieves the end, including fraud.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/voting-machines-susceptible-to-hacking-federal-cyber-agency-warns
We know why VT has same day voter registration and ballots mailed to everyone. I had hopes that Phil Scott was intelligent enough and could see the increased chance to cheat. Sadly he isn’t or just might not care as long as he keeps winning.
Scott should be more like Sununu
Vermonters would greatly benefit