Annual Report 2021

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verified voting

The Price of Voting: Today’s Voting Machine Marketplace

The Price of Voting draws on probably the largest dataset of voting system contracts ever assembled, spanning well over 400 jurisdictions. This wealth of examples provides unprecedented insight into vendors’ pricing strategies, including their wide use of ad hoc discounts and their sizable annual support revenues. The report astutely combines quantitative analysis and case studies to make best use of the available data. At the same time, The Price of Voting is admirably candid about its limitations and cautious in its generalizations. Public officials preparing to acquire voting systems, and citizens concerned about voting system negotiations and contracts, will better understand the challenges after reading it.

Annual Report 2020

Condensing the story of 2020 into one report hasn’t been easy: not just because of all the work that took place last year, but because in many ways, it’s the story of everything that’s happened since 2016. As we note in our “What’s Next” section, we face similar opportunities and challenges now – but this time, we are strengthened both by the lessons we’ve learned and the allies we’ve gained.

Electronic Poll Book Use in the United States

The use of electronic poll books has increased significantly in recent elections. Almost three quarters of registered voters live in jurisdictions in which electronic poll books will be used to check in voters for in person voting at Election Day polling places this November. The Verified Voting team has collected data on electronic poll books, including the makes and models in use across the country, and added it to the Verifier, our comprehensive data set of voting equipment usage.

T-90 Days: Recommendations for Voting During a Pandemic

With less than three months before the general election and amidst a global pandemic, here’s what can still happen to ensure the security and verifiability of our elections.
The primary elections conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated acute challenges associated with ensuring the accuracy, integrity and verifiability of elections. Public trust in the election results is contingent upon the principle that governs a democracy: that each voter has a free and fair opportunity to cast a ballot privately and have each ballot counted as cast.

COVID-19 and the Surge of Mail Ballots: Managing an Unprecedented Volume in the November 2020 Election

Jurisdictions across the country have seen a significant increase in mail voting during their 2020 primary elections due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Several jurisdictions have required additional time to tabulate results — an indication that they will likely need more time and resources for the November general election. Verified Voting completed an analysis to better understand how many jurisdictions currently counting mail ballots on hand-fed scanners or by hand may face an unprecedented volume of mail ballots for this technology in the 2020 general election.

COVID-19 and Trustworthy Elections

The COVID-19 epidemic has impacted many aspects of American democracy. Primaries have been rescheduled, processes for absentee ballots changed, and polling sites relocated, often with less than 24 hours’ notice. Throughout it all, election officials have been and will continue to be essential workers on the front line of protecting our democracy amidst this pandemic. People have risked their lives to ensure that others can cast their ballots. Given Verified Voting’s mission, these recommendations center on election security and verification, but they can only be implemented if election officials are safe and supported.