The State Board of Elections is seeking public opinion on a new administrative rule. This rule is aimed at laying out the procedures for approved individuals to review confidential data related to certified voting systems in North Carolina.
This potential rule focuses on how an authorized individual, as defined by the Voting Systems: Powers and Duties of State Board under N.C.G.S. § 163-165.7, could access, examine, and scrutinize data that voting system providers have put in escrow as part of their state certification process. This stored data encompasses proprietary and highly sensitive details about voting systems, such as the source code for voting machines, election management systems, and their respective software.
The aim of this proposed rule is to enable authorized individuals to examine this confidential information without posing a risk of revealing proprietary or competitive data belonging to voting system providers, or exposing any features of the voting systems that could potentially be manipulated by malicious individuals.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has marked election infrastructure, including voting systems, as critical to our national infrastructure. Given that North Carolina uses voting systems that are the same or similar to many other states, the level of access this state allows via this process could have far-reaching implications for the security and overall integrity of elections across the nation.
The public comment period opens Monday, July 3, 2023, and closes at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, September 1, 2023.
Members of the public may comment on the rules in any of the following ways:
- Online: Public Comment Portal: Voting Systems Escrow Access Rule
- Email: rulemaking.sboe@ncsbe.gov
- Mail: Attn: Rulemaking Coordinator, PO Box 27255, Raleigh, NC 27611-7255
A virtual public hearing will be held at 11 a.m. on July 20, 2023. To join the public hearing:
- Online: Webex
- Access code: 2430 539 9957#
- Passcode: NCSBE (62723 from phones and video systems)
- By Phone: (415) 655-0003
- Access code: 2430 539 9957#
- Passcode: 62723#
Comments will be compiled and submitted to the State Board before its final consideration of the proposed rule.
