EPEC NEWS

By Chris Rohland and Erin Marie Joyce

Virginia’s Department of Elections (‘ELECT’) is the overseer of elections across the Commonwealth. But when the Dept. of Elections itself is flouting transparency and federal voter-list management laws, who is overseeing ELECT?

Amid a string of policy decisions that have all but invited litigation over compliance with federal and state statutes on transparency, Virginia’s Dept. of Elections appears to have allowed more than 90 Virginia localities to use poll book software from a vendor that was not certified for the the 2024 General Election.

The revelation comes after poll book maker DemTech’s website went dark in the Spring of 2024 soon after it yanked its support agreements to the localities under contract with DemTech. Election officials in counties running the software were left scrambling for answers, as EPEC Team reported at the time.

“No responsive requests” is the answer that EPEC Team received from the Department of Elections after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request inquiring about notification and documents supporting the change in ownership.

DemTech’s new name is Calvacere, according to FOIA documents acquired by EPEC Team.

ELECT’s Electronic Pollbook Certification regulations state that election system vendors must be certified to operate election software and systems and must “report to ELECT within 30 calendar days knowledge of any changes to the corporate structure of the certified vendor.”

Those changes include:

a. Business Entity and Structure

b. Parent and Subsidiary companies

c. Capital or equity structure

d. Control; identity of any individual, entity, partnership, or organization owning a controlling interest

e. Investment by any individual, entity, partnership, or organization in an amount that exceeds 5% of the vendor’s net cash flow from the prior reporting year

f. Location of manufacturing facilities; including names of the third-party vendor(s) employed to fabricate and/or assemble any component part of the voting and/or tabulating system being submitted for certification, along with the location of all of their facilities with manufacturing capability

g. Third-party vendors

h. Good Standing status

i. Credit rating

In addition, ELECT’s regulations state, the State Board of Elections “reserves the right to decertify” the EPB (Electronic Poll book) systems if the vendor does not comply with the terms of certification.

EPEC Team placed numerous calls and sent email queries to then-named DemTech, which was operating out of a home in Longwood, Texas, at the time of the apparent change of ownership. The queries asked about DemTech’s status as a going concern. We received no response.

EPEC Team also reviewed the agendas for the State Board of Elections in 2024 involving DemTech’s status and found one mention of DemTech, in March. It was related to concerns over election glitches that plagued localities in the 2023 elections when poll books were not recording check-in and ballot tally information properly.

If it was following Virginia statutes that govern certification of poll books, ELECT would have required the new vendor Calvatere to update it on its status as a going concern and affirm it was certified.

In 2020, DemTech’s Centerpoint ePollTAB v1.0 Electronic Poll Book was certified in a Mock Election in Loudoun County on August 27, according to VerifiedVoting.org, a nonprofit that tracks election-technology equipment.

Calvacere’s website says it is registered in Delaware. John Morrison, listed as the Chief Executive Officer of Calvacere on his LinkedIn profile, is based in Manchester, United Kingdom. The Calvacere website offers products with a similar name as that which DemTech was offering.

EPEC has since procured more FOIA documents that show Calvacere, using UK-style in communications with election officials, has moved to “regularise [sic] existing product certification” from DemTech to Calvacere, which it claimed does not require any review of the existing software used in the poll books.

The Calvacere website is also soliciting for other sub-licensees to work with it on election services, including overseas ballots (UOCAVA):

If you have customers that you operate systems and services for in public or private elections or public engagement is your mission and you think you might be a great fit to become a licensed partner of Calvacere Contact us now to discuss.

No records appear to exist of DemTech notifying ELECT of a material change to its financial position and ownership in the Spring of 2024, according to FOIA responses received by EPEC Team.

The actions are a clear violation of state certification standards set by ELECT itself.

The findings are among a growing list policy choices that flout election law. Even supporters of Commissioner Susan Beals are shaking their heads.

For example:

1. Refusing to Comply with Voter-List Maintenance Laws

Virginia is violating the National Voter Registration Act (‘NVRA’) and a 2012 court order by withholding full birth dates from datasets the law requires ELECT to provide to nonprofit and political organizations. The state abruptly announced its decision to withhold this information just weeks before the 2024 General Election, just when groups like EPEC need it most to verify the accuracy and currency of Virginia’s voter registration list.

Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (‘RITE’) President and CEO Derek Lyons issued the following statement, along with a letter to ELECT and Beals in October alerting them to the violation:

The statement said:

“Virginia’s sudden policy change is part of a troubling trend of states trying to impair the ability of organizations to assess the currency and accuracy of their voter rolls. Courts have consistently blocked these unlawful attacks on transparency, and we are confident they will do so again here if Virginia does not quickly course correct.”

2. Lack of Guidance on Same Day Registration to localities

Same Day Registration began in 2022. In 2023, Virginia recorded 3,149 provisional ballots during its general election.

According to ELECT records on its “statistics” page, over 123,000 provisional and Same Day Registrations were collected in Virginia during early voting and on election day, which disrupted many precincts throughout voting.

The SDR surges by the thousands on election day were pronounced in many college towns. VPAP.org recently noted the high percentages of SDR/Provisional ballots in college towns:

In some precincts, students were reportedly allowed to use a campus P.O. Box as an address for SDR, contrary to statutes. In other precincts, swarms of students filled voting precinct locations while individuals were still filling out ballots in voting booths.

Election officials had little to no guidance about being prepared to handle SDRs at the volumes recorded, the first time SDRs were allowed in a presidential election year.

3. Questionable ‘guidance’ about Locality Election Records

As a result of election-records requests the public has a right to inspect, ELECT has sent guidance to some General Registrars about how to interpret public records statutes that has created confusion on the part of some, raised the cost of the requests in some cases, all while making full records of the 2024 Presidential Election more difficult for the public to review.

Other General Registrars have proactively provided the public records. For example, here is a link to view Prince William County’s Office of Elections documentation.

4. No Documentation That Pollbook Vendor Calvacere was Certified

According to FOIA requests, election officials were aware that something was changing with the ownership of the company. If poll book vendor DemTech was acquired as part of a reorganization, it is obligated to alert the State Board of Elections of the change in ownership.

The policy decisions point toward less transparency and raise the question: If the Department of Elections is not going to ensure that election transparency laws are executed on behalf of the Commonwealth, who is overseeing ELECT? #