Some Michigan counties can’t instantly report Tuesday night time’s election outcomes as a consequence of a complicated mixture of federal vote reporting steerage and AT&T’s determination to retire its 3G networks this previous February.

In a website alert, the Wayne County clerk’s workplace confirmed that 65 of Michigan’s 83 complete counties “are no longer modeming unofficial election results.” Wayne County is the place Detroit is situated, and it’s the state’s largest county by inhabitants with about 1.8 million residents. It’s unclear what number of are as a consequence of county officers that didn’t improve their very own modems, or if this is because of U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) tips advising towards utilizing modems. Elsewhere in Michigan, Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum advised The Verge that to be cyber safety acutely aware, “we have never modemed results. So this did not change our process in Ingham County.”

In part 14.2-E, the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) 2.0 established in February 2021 suggested towards connecting voting programs to the web. The tips cited the danger of ransomware, the flexibility for attackers to view information inside the system, or modify information inside it that must do with election outcomes and poll information.

“This has significantly delayed the reporting process,” the Tuesday night time Wayne County alert learn. “We do not have a definitive time of when we will reach 100 percent reporting, but will continue to work throughout the evening and morning until this is achieved.”

AT&T didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

After saying its plans to finish its 3G wi-fi community in 2019, the supplier formally sunset the service this past February.

The workplace of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson confirmed the widespread problem and mentioned reporting delays “were expected” in a statement to WDIV ClickOnDetroit late Tuesday night time. “Many Michigan counties are in the process of or have already phased out the use of modems to transmit election results from cities and townships to their county clerk’s office,” the assertion mentioned.

Election Results Update

Based on the advice of the Voluntary Voting Systems Guideline 2.0 issued by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, coupled with AT&T’s determination in March 2022 to not assist 3G modems, 65 out of 83 Counties in Michigan are not modeming unofficial election outcomes. This has signficantly delayed the reporting course of. We wouldn’t have a definitive time of after we will attain 100% reporting, however will proceed to work all through the night and morning till that is achieved.