The director of a federally accredited testing lab that approved changes to voting systems ahead of the 2024 election told Newsweek that they were not “of any significance.”
Jack Cobb, the director of Pro V&V, told Newsweek via email that the changes approved by the lab relate to ballot boxes, ballot bins, changing printers to newer models, adding mounting brackets and moving the location of files, pointing to information about the changes published on the Election Assistance Commission’s website.
“There really is no change of any significance,” he said.
His comments came in response to reports that Pro V&V signed off on “significant” changes to ES&S voting machines that are used in almost half of U.S. counties.
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Why It Matters
Unconfirmed reports that voting machines were quietly altered before November’s election have raised questions about whether they affected the outcome.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit questioning the accuracy of the election is moving forward. The lawsuit, filed by SMART Legislation, the action arm of SMART Elections, a nonpartisan watchdog group, cites voting discrepancies in Rockland County, New York.
What To Know
Pro V&V approved four updates on voting machine software and firmware between March and September 2024, according to a February post on the SMART Elections Substack page.
“Between them, the updates covered many, possibly most, of the voting machines in use across the U.S.,” the post said.
All of the updates were put through as “de minimus,” meaning that no additional testing is required for the updates to be installed. That “increases the risk of malware coming in on these updates,” according to SMART Elections.
The changes were not minor, according to the Dissent in Bloom Substack.
“These weren’t minor tweaks,” according to a post on the page. “They touched ballot scanners, modified audit files, and even affected machines flagged by CISA. But by calling them ‘de minimis,’ they avoided full testing, public scrutiny, and transparency.”
Asked about the reports, Cobb told Newsweek that “most of these articles are completely made up.”
SMART Elections and Dissent in Bloom Substack also noted that Pro V&V’s website began to stop working in the aftermath of the election.
The website “collapsed into a hollow shell” shortly after the 2024 election and, as of this month, is still “a single barren page,” according to Dissent in Bloom.
Cobb said the company’s website was down for a few days in February before a replacement website went live, he said, and has been “running ever since.”
What People Are Saying
SMART Elections’ Substack post: “Why would we trust a company that has let its website disintegrate publicly for over six months, to test complex electronic equipment that we rely on to determine who controls the treasury, the military and the policy of our entire nation?
“We should not. We do not. We do not trust these voting machines. We do not trust the labs that test them. We demand that this facade of security be replaced with something meaningful: a trustworthy system that protects each vote and ensures that it is counted securely and accurately in a way that can be publicly verified.”
What Happens Next
SMART Legislation’s lawsuit is seeking a full, hand recount of ballots cast in the presidential and U.S. Senate races in Rockland County. A hearing has been scheduled for September 22.
