Free Speech For People and the National Election Defense Coalition recently submitted public comments to California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, regarding the proposed certification of Los Angeles county’s Voting Solutions for All People 2.0 (VSAP) election system.  

The joint letter addresses the system’s non-compliance with California Voting System Standards.

The letter states:

We have examined the test reports which document multiple issues of non-compliance with the California Voting System Standards include distinct failures of the Open Ended Vulnerability Testing (OVET fail), (which we enumerate below) that should decidedly disqualify the VSAP from receiving certification under California state rules.

The letter goes on to outline specific issues of non-compliance that bring the VSAP’s security and reliability into question. They argue:

1. It is possible to insert or remove ballots from both the ballot marking device and ballot transfer boxes without detection.
2. There is no evidence in the Technical Data Package to indicate that role-based access control, conforming to the recommendations of the Standard, is implemented.
3. Too many functions require access to the root password. Also, a USB boot will give access to the election definition.
4. The unrestricted access to, and the ability to boot from, the USB port allows access to voting data.
5. The system does not use FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic modules.
6. The testers were able to gain access to the electronic event logs.

Read the letter in its entirety here.