Complaints about new Kane County voting system are investigated, deemed unfounded
The Kane County state’s attorney and sheriff say they have investigated several complaints about Kane County’s new voting machines and determined them to be unfounded.
Some of the complaints alleged that Kane County is using unapproved voting machines, because they were bought before the Illinois State Board of Elections had approved the machines, according to a joint news release from state’s attorney Jamie Mosser and sheriff Ron Hain.
The Kane County Board voted Aug. 8 to buy the voting system, including the machines, from Hart InterCivic.
Hart requested approval from the board of elections Aug. 11. On Nov. 21, the board granted two-year interim approval of Hart’s Verity 2.7.1 IL voting system.
According to the news release, a board of elections report said the system meets Illinois’ statutory and regulatory requirements.
“While it appears that a portion of the Illinois Election Code regarding the timing of the sale of electronic voting systems may not have been strictly complied with, the voting system was approved before it was ever used in any election, including prior to early voting for the March 19, 2024, General Primary Election,” the news release stated.
It said no evidence was presented showing Hart knowingly intended to disregard the state’s Election Code.
Questions were also raised during public demonstrations of the voting system in November and December.
Several people reported that they selected a name on the touchscreen, but another name was printed on the ballot. They also reported difficulty feeding the paper ballots into the scanning device.
The problem came because the demonstration program Hart uses is used nationwide. Some states allow candidates to use an alias name (such as a nickname) on ballots, so the program on the demonstrators includes that. During the demonstrations, the screen displayed the name “Abraham Lincoln,” and the name printed out was “John Muir,” according to the news release.
On Tuesday, Mosser and a state’s attorney investigator tested machines at the county clerk’s office. They sampled Democratic and Republican party ballots.
The correct ballots appeared on the touchscreens. Test votes were made, and the selections were confirmed on the screen. They then printed their ballots, and saw that what they had selected printed correctly on the ballots.
Neither had any difficulty inserting the paper ballots, according to the news release.