The Oak Grove Way

City Council Opts OUT of Electronic Poll Pads

After the April 29, 2024 decision to expand hand counting during the upcoming Anoka County post election audit (mid-November 2024), the Oak Grove City Council tonight (September 30, 2024) made another decision in favor of simple and open elections: by passing a resolution to opt OUT of using electronic poll pads.

These KNOWiNK systems are not certified federally (only by MNSOS) and are connected to the internet during the election—sometimes throughout election day, which is why documentaries like Let My People Go have referred to them as the eyes and ears, capable of monitoring and modifying election data. Much is known about KNOWiNK now, but already in 2016, during the pitch to his municipality, a computer savvy mayor of a Hennepin-County municipality showed the product's vulnerability by hacking into the KNOWiNK poll pad within five minutes.

Cities that opt out will be able to use the always-available paper poll books to check-in voters—these paper poll books are already required by statute to be present at precincts.

What remains a concern for those interested in elections where voter rolls, voters, ballots, and tallies are verified, is the problem of mail-in absentee ballots which could get sent to voters on the voter rolls that are inactive. Once in the system, these ballots—despite being illegitimate—could become legal ballots. It is possible that initiatives like Guarding the Ballot (Minn Stat 209.05) could be a limited defense against such ballots, for any candidate regardless of party wishing to pursue that approach.

But for the moment, the Oak Grove way, to 1) expand the hand count audit, and 2) remove electronic poll pads, are both welcome steps from those advocating a return to locally-controlled, locally-managed, and locally-verified election systems and processes.