July 20, 2018 Via email Re: Request for Information on Poll Book Best Practices To Whom It May Concern: I am writing on behalf of Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to preventing our democracy from declining into a more authoritarian form of government. Important to this mission are actions that protect free, fair, and regular elections and the ability of American citizens to exercise their most basic democratic right: the right to choose who governs. Currently, we are seeking to identify best practices for maintaining secure and accurate poll books. We would like to learn about—and learn from— your approach. Recently, we have seen many instances of poll books susceptible to human error, software malfunctions, and hacking. For example, in June of this year, over 118,000 voters were left off the voter roster in Los Angeles County due to a “random printing error.” Also in June, precincts in Texas and South Dakota suffered e-poll book “glitches,” leading to long waits in some cases. And during the 2016 election, eligible voters were turned away due to e-poll book issues in Durham, North Carolina. We also know that ahead of the 2016 election, Russia “successfully infiltrated” an electronic poll book software company. We understand that the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) offers a list of recommended best practices for securing voter registration data. These recommendations, however, do not specifically address poll books or the recent incidents described above. Therefore, we would very much appreciate any information you may be able to provide on your state’s efforts to develop and implement best practices for ensuring secure and accurate poll books on election days. Given the nature of recent incidents, we are especially interested in the process of securely and accurately transferring voter records into poll books. As we are working to understand how our organization can best make timely recommendations and assist efforts to protect actual and apparent election integrity, we appreciate your attention to this matter and thank you in advance for your time. If possible, we kindly request a response by Friday, August 3rd. 222 Broadway, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10038 • quinn.raymond@protectdemocracy.org 1 We hope to be as helpful as possible in clarifying or answering questions. So please feel free to contact me at quinn.raymond@protectdemocracy.org or 917-650-2134. Responses can be emailed to this same email address or mailed to: Protect Democracy Attn: Quinn Raymond 222 Broadway, 18th Floor New York, NY 10038 Thank you again for your time, and we look forward to hearing from you soon. Sincerely, Quinn Raymond Cyber-Security Consultant The Protect Democracy Project 222 Broadway, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10038 • quinn.raymond@protectdemocracy.org 2