Schwab promotes voting machine propaganda

Last week, Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab (R) uploaded a video by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to his YouTube channel. The EAC, established in 2002 by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), is a “bipartisan commission charged with developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and serving as a national clearinghouse of information on election administration.”

From the beginning of the video, they inform the viewers that thousands are working year-round to ensure elections are “accurate, secure, accessible, and transparent,” before briefly diving into their history and showing a list of the things they work to do, including: Providing funding to states and localities; creating national standards for voting systems and processes; and testing and certifying voting equipment to the highest standards. 

“One of the EAC’s most important responsibilities is testing and certifying our nation’s election equipment,” one of the spokespeople said in the video.

They also said in the video that the EAC is “committed to the accuracy of America’s voting systems,” and explain how this is accomplished.

“…We deploy a rigorous testing and certification process in accredited labs that culminates with an official EAC seal of approval,” a narrator states. “With hundreds of millions of votes being cast, you can imagine that there are many different voting systems and equipment used across the country. From ballot marking devices to tabulators, it’s critical that a thorough process is in place to test each manufacturers voting systems and machines.”

In the video, they state that this is accomplished by the EAC using accredited, independent test laboratories where equipment can be analyzed and stress-tested. These tests are conducted by:

• Having different manufacturer’s software and voting systems sent to their laboratories for testing.
• Testing the software against “hundreds of scenarios.”
• Dry runs of elections are tested when software is “ready.”
• Run tests to ensure hardware and software up to spec–performing securely and as intended. 
• Work to anticipate any vulnerabilities and the unexpected by checking against physical interference, technological tampering, and extreme hot and cold weather. 

The video claims that only after the software and system pass this “thorough testing process” and successfully meets all mandated requirements the machines receive an EAC certification. 

They then go into explain the updated voluntary standards for voting systems which they claim, “lay the groundwork for modern voting systems that significantly improve cybersecurity, accessibility, and usability requirements.” 

The video ends by stating they never forget that “we live in a democracy” and that’s why they’re dedicated to making sure elections stay protected, accessible, secure, and transparent.