Elections

PROBLEM

In the course of an important local election with the top of the ticket in a neck and neck race, a major election jurisdiction experienced a significant breakdown in their electronic communication system for transmitting vote counts from precincts to the central vote tabulation machines. The breakdown caused a substantial delay in determining the highly contested race, resulting in substantial press coverage and demanding scrutiny from the jurisdiction’s governing board. Major Scale was asked to coordinate the resulting investigation of the problem and recommend operational and technical changes to prevent further issues from arising.

SOLUTION

Major Scale worked with the chair of the investigation team, a well known former congressman and judge, to identify and recruit experts for the team, define their roles, construct the work plan, and manage the day to day activities of the team. Major Scale recruited experts from local universities in software engineering, networking, information security, and forensic analysis. Separately, the vendor of the equipment that had failed had brought in a prominent local technology consulting firm to conduct their own analysis. Major Scale served as the point of coordination between both investigative efforts.

IMPLEMENTATION

Approximately three months later, the two investigative teams produced coordinated reports identifying the underlying operational and technological deficiencies in the jurisdiction’s methods during the problematic election (it is important to note that neither the result of the election nor the integrity of the vote counting was ever questioned, despite the closeness of the top race).  The resulting list of recommended actions was fully adopted by the jurisdiction and Major Scale was retained to implement those recommendations.

BUSINESS IMPACT

The jurisdiction now conducts elections routinely using a well tested process for ensuring that all components of the communication system function properly, and that substantial backup capability exists to handle any unanticipated problems. Since the implementation of the recommendations there have been no further incidents of delayed results.