State rebuts Duenkel claims

Election systems in Mason County and around the state are fully certified in accordance with Revised Code of Washington requirements.

Citing increasing misinformation around the certification and technical aspects of voting systems in Washington, Stuart Holmes, acting director of elections at the Office of Secretary of State, submitted a letter to the editor (the full letter can be found on page 5) refuting a claim made by Mason County auditor candidate Steve Duenkel in a previous letter to the editor to the Journal that Mason County's ClearVote 2.1 system is not certified by the federal Election Assistance Commission.

Duenkel also made the claim at a candidate forum in September and in a paid political ad in the Oct. 6 edition of the Journal.

"... the claim that ClearVote 2.1 is 'not an EAC-certified system' creates confusion about state law," Holmes wrote in the letter. "In the process of certifying of ClearVote's systems, including ClearVote 2.1, Washington used the same testing authority, Pro V&V, that the EAC uses.

"We require certification to the EAC's Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) by an independent testing authority. However, we do not require direct EAC certification of every system when EAC-accredited certification is available," Holmes continued. "At times, EAC commissioner positions have remained vacant for extended periods. Without being able to rely on accredited third-party certifications, a lack of a quorum of EAC commissioners can jeopardize our ability to facilitate elections statewide."

Holmes added that the Office of the Secretary of State also has the authority to bring in independent experts under RCW 29A.12.050 to mitigate the risk of relying on a single entity to certify the state's voting system.