McGrane: Election system safe, secure, ready for Tuesday

SANDPOINT — With local elections just around the corner, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane makes it clear that the system is safe, secure and ready for Tuesday.

McGrane, who toured North Idaho in advance of the Nov. 7 local elections, said the visits allowed him to touch base with county clerks and discuss election operations to ensure they have what they need for Tuesday.

"As we're making policy in terms of uniformity of an election, it's really easy to sit here in the Capitol building and say, 'Oh, everyone should do X, Y and Z,'" McGrane said. "It's a whole other thing when you go out and you get to see the contrast between St. Maries versus Idaho Falls."

The Secretary of State office oversees the statewide voter registration system, which includes the list of all registered voters in the state as well as the election management system. By talking to clerks like Glenda Poston in Boundary County or Mike Rosedale in Bonner County, McGrane said the feedback they receive helps them improve the system for both county clerks and their staff as well as voters. 

The unified system allows the Idaho Secretary of State’s office to ensure voters are in the system only one time, regardless of where they registered and where they currently live. If someone moves, all the clerk has to do is move that registration to the current address.

"It's one of the ways we cross-check to make sure someone is only registered once," McGrane said. "Technology has become a huge tool in terms of the integrity of our elections."

That extends to the electronic poll books that voters may have seen at recent elections. The books allow for a smoother voter experience, scanning the barcode on the back of a driver's license to look up a voter's registration and other pertinent information. It also can catch if someone requests an absentee ballot but later decides to vote in person; only one ballot will count.

McGrane said the electronic poll books also count augment training for poll workers, taking them step by step through the process.

"[They] help create uniformity as well as enhancing security in the process," the Secretary of State said.

Cybersecurity and election security are big focuses for the office, with staff members dedicated to supporting counties and getting them the resources they need to protect the systems and ensure a safe and accurate election.

"Every system, whether it's any of the electronic systems used or a hand count, has vulnerabilities," McGrane said. "It's up to us to know what those are and to prevent them."

Procedures such as the poll books and a host of other laws and procedures make, and keep, Idaho's elections among the most secure in the nation, McGrane said. Voter systems have a variety of checks to ensure security and accuracy, which include election-related systems never being connected to the internet.

The systems are also audited after the election to ensure accuracy and security. Paper ballots are the official record, so if an audit is done, that paper ballot is the one referred to, McGrane said.

"I think the highest anywhere in the state so far has been a two-ballot change out of all the ballots cast," he added. "That's it and that's one of the things that help people have confidence [in our system] where we can say, we double-check and it's working.”

In addition to checking in with the region's county clerks, McGrane said his tour of North Idaho included visits with political science classes at the University of Idaho. He was able to share about the state's election system, how it works and the differences between larger areas like Ada County and smaller areas such as Boundary County.

"If everything works really, really well, it should be a really smooth experience for voters," McGrane said. "And most voters, when they think of voting, they picture themselves checking in at the polling location, going to the voting booth and marking their ballot. They don't think about the giant logistics that it takes to make all of that come together."

While smaller counties are able to hand count the ballots due to their size, the Secretary of State said the state's election systems allow counties to quickly, safely and accurately count ballots.

"It sometimes feels like a small miracle in terms of logistics to pull all of that together," McGrane said. "Let alone to do it statewide in a distributed fashion where there's a real important component to how we do it uniformly. But there's also making sure … it's tailored to the local environment."

The other message that McGrane wants residents to hear with less than a week to go before the election?

Get registered — you can do so at the polling locations — and vote.

"Your vote matters," McGrane said. "I have actually participated in multiple coin flips in my tenure to determine the winner when there is a tie in the election, so voting is very important."