Stateline county clerks combat security frustrations with election technology provider

(WIFR) – A security scare several months ago has county clerk’s offices double checking online safety measures.

On July 19, the Illinois Board of Elections informed several county clerks, including Winnebago, Ogle and DeKalb, about a weak point identified in their election services provider Platinum Technology Resource. The third-party service works with clerks to provide election technology, including voter registration and election management services as well as ballot printing applications.

The weak point was discovered by a security researcher with Security Discovery, a company that investigates online breaches. Researcher Jeremiah Fowler found he could get through Platinum’s databases and find 4.6 million Illinois records, including voter applications and social security numbers.

Taking security very seriously, DeKalb County Clerk Tasha Sims says she’s grateful to Fowler for making the discovery. But, more than anything, she’s angry Platinum didn’t discover this first.

“We work hard every day to combat any falsehoods,” Sims says. “We do whatever we can to make sure our procedures are tight and in line and everything’s going well. We have to have vendors for our voter registration. I expect them to have the most secure software possible and then this happens.”

Within two days of this claim, Sims says Platinum put safeguards in place and Fowler can no longer see any information. She explains that Platinum assured clerks that no forms were accessed and the situation was taken care of.

Sims adds that many people don’t realize a lot of your voter information is public, including date of birth, party affiliation, polling place and more.

“We would not allow others to see some of the scanned documents that we have in there,” Sims says. “But the voter registration information is accessible to the public if they were to come in at any time.”

Sims demands better from vendors like Platinum, explaining the public deserves better than disheartening situations like this. She says this close to an election transparency with voters is everything.

“I am being reassured by our vendor that everything is taken care of. They have additional measures in place,” Sims says. “I want to know what those are. I want to see an audit and I have requested that of them twice now.”

We reached out to Platinum Technology Resource, but received no response.

Early voting starts September 26 in Illinois.

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