Essex County Chooses Secure Voting Machines with Help from SOMA Action

Voter Rights Committee empowers Freeholders to make the right choice

Election security made national news in 2016, but New Jersey activists were on the case well before the Russian election interference scandal. Multiple groups, including the Rutgers Law School International Human Rights Clinic, have been working for over a decade to convince New Jersey to procure reliable and secure voting machines. In fact, these efforts led to the 2005 New Jersey Legislation that required counties implement paper ballot systems that could be subject to an audit to verify their accuracy by 2008. Unfortunately, the Statute stipulated that the implementation would be waived if sufficient funds were not available, and the loophole allowed the rule to go unenforced, even after Rutgers filed a lawsuit to compel the State to require compliance.

By 2018, most NJ counties were ready to replace their obsolete and sometimes unreliable machines. Thanks in large part to the work of SOMA Action’s Voter Rights Committee, Essex County is currently the only county in the state to have purchased replacements that use hand-marked paper ballots with district-based optical scanners. This purchase puts Essex County at the forefront of election integrity and security in New Jersey, and marks one of SOMA Action’s most significant accomplishments to date.

At the helm of this effort were Voter Rights Committee Co-chairs Holly Gauthier and David Harris. “It was a big education process,” says Holly. David explains that they “had to learn the history, law, technology, and politics.” 

With the help of Professor Penny Venetis, Chair of Rutgers’ International Human Rights Clinic, and Princeton Professor Andrew Appel, a computer scientist and nationally recognized voting machine expert, David and Holly learned that there are several competing voting systems. Unlike the ones available in 2005, all of them now produce paper. The basic difference is that there are ballot marking machines where the voter presses buttons on a computer screen and the machine marks the paper ballot, and systems where the voter hand-marks their vote directly on a paper ballot and then inserts into a scanner. Both systems produce paper ballots which are subject to audit to verify accuracy, but as Holly explains, “we soon learned that not all paper ballots are the same.” 

After a lot of study, observation and consulting with the co-chair of New York State Board of Elections, Dr. Appel, and Professor Venetis, it was clear to Holly and David that hand-marked paper ballots with a district based optical scanner was the most reliable and secure voting system available. The ballot marking machines are often big, beautiful, expensive, and enticing--- but they are not as secure or reliable as the hand-marked ballot systems. “Simply put, writing on a piece of paper doesn’t fail,” explains Holly. 

Knowledge was important; politics was critical. Unlike many other states, in New Jersey, each county decides which voting machines to purchase. The committee’s next step was to convince Essex County to purchase the most secure machines available. As David puts it, “We had to essentially become lobbyists.”

They met with Janine Bauer who was temporarily serving as a caretaker freeholder of District 3, and Clerk of the Board of Chosen Freeholders Deborah Davis Ford, who helped them understand the procedures and powers of the Freeholder Board. Consequently, Holly and David  attended every Freeholder meeting for a year and a half to address the Board directly, often with other SOMA Action members. “On the occasions when we had several of our committee members with us, we allocated different segments of our talking points to different people, so we were not redundant,” David explains. “It was about being persuasive,” adds Holly. 

Holly, David, and Mary Gallagher with a newly-approved district-based optical scanner.

The Board also agreed to meet separately with the Voter Rights Committee, Dr. Appel and Professor Venetis. President Gill and Vice President Richardson attended, along with over thirty SOMA Action members. “That meeting was key,” David believes. The Freeholders have  to approve any purchase over $750.00, and President Gill controlled the Freeholder agenda.

Holly insists, “SOMA Action’s participation was important. We were not just a few random people; we had the support of an organization known to the board, and that helped make sure our voices were heard.” In addition to that first initial meeting, Holly and David met several times with many Essex County Election officials, including Essex County Clerk Christopher Durkin, Clerk of the Essex County Board of Elections Linda von Nessi, Chair of the Board of Elections Linda Spano, and Superintendent of Elections Edna Baugh. Ultimately, this hard work led to the Essex County Election Officials recommending the purchase of hand-marked paper ballots with district based optical scanners to the Freeholders.

On January 7, 2020, the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders voted unanimously to purchase the new voting system recommended by the Election Officials. President Gill spoke extensively after the vote, commenting in part that “the information and advocacy of Essex County citizens, including bringing an expert to meet with us, was instrumental in our making the right decision.” 

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a big impact on the future of the new voting machines. The machines were supposed to be rolled out in a trial basis for the Primaries and local elections this spring, with full implementation for this fall’s Presidential election. However, as Freeholder President Brendan Gill explained in a call to David, Holly, and other voting security advocates, officials have decided not to roll out the machines this year due to the challenges of both obtaining the machines and educating the public, as well as COVID-19 safety complications.

This setback isn’t deterring the Voter Rights Committee. “SOMA Action was never going to consider this done and walk away,” Holly promises. “We are here to help educate the public and do whatever we can to help implement this new system as efficiently as possible, including to help recruit and train poll workers.” 

David, Holly, and the Voter Rights Committee are currently planning their next steps. If you’d like to be involved, you can email David Harris (dlharris49@gmail.com) or Holly Gauthier (hollygau@gmail.com) for more information.