BOISE — A new computer program takes images of every ballot recorded during elections and makes it available for anyone to audit. The program will be tested in Ada County first. It is the only system of its type to be used in an effort to appease election deniers and prove the validity of any election.
- Idaho GOP head Dorothy Moon called the program an excellent idea.
- The program is already running with results available from any election in Ada County dating back to 2022.
- Ballot verifier is intended to end reliance on public records requests that take time and money from the county and its workers.
- You can take a test drive for yourself at https://adacounty.id.gov/elections/
(Verbatim of story that aired is below)
Stolen elections. No matter how many times some people are shown the evidence that elections are fair and fraud free, they refuse to believe. I’m senior reporter Roland Beres and Ada County elections has a new tool that allows anyone to analyze a recent election and satisfy their skepticism by seeing images of every single ballot themselves.
IMAGINE NO MORE BICKERING ABOUT ELECTION FAIRNESS. ADA COUNTY ELECTIONS THINKS IT HAS THE ANSWER.
“I don’t know we can get more transparent than what you’re about to see,' said Trent Tripple, Ada County Clerk.
HE’S TALKING ABOUT THE BALLOT VERIFIER. A COMPUTER PROGRAM THAT COMPILES PICTURES TAKEN OF EVERY BALLOT IN EVERY ELECTION AND MATCHES IT WITH THE COMPUTER TABULATION.
“We’re hoping this will be a bellwether to start building back trust in elections for folks,” said Tripple.
“We’re really proud of this and think it will be revolutionary for the election space.” said Saul Seyler, Elections director Ada County
A COMPANY CALLED CIVERA BUILT THE SOFTWARE THAT ALLOWS YOU TO NOT ONLY SEE EVERY BALLOT ENTERED, BUT VIEW ALL SORTS OF DATA THAT CAN BE GLEANED FROM THE BALLOTS LIKE WHICH CANDIDATES DID BEST IN CERTAIN VOTING AREAS.
BUT CIVERA’S CEO SAYS THERE’S NO IMPACT FROM THE PROGRAM ON BALLOT SECURITY.
“Ada County has to process all of that data themselves and then throw it over the wall To the Cevera team so our two systems are completely cut off from each other. firewall! Yeah, there’s no way they can communicate with one another,” said Adam Friedman, CEO of Civera.
AND THERE’S ANOTHER BASIC SAFETY MEASURE THAT IS OFTEN FORGOTTEN BUT HASN’T CHANGED.
“Within our elections, the paper ballot is still the official record,” said Seyler.
The ballot verifier is not instantaneous. It takes about 4-6 weeks before all the images from an election are available to view. But elections officials are working hard to make that time period shorter. In Boise, Roland Beres Idaho News Six.
