After President Donald Trump revisited debunked election conspiracy theories in a primetime speech Thursday, elections officials in Maryland and Virginia urged skeptics to get in touch with their local elections offices to learn about observing the process for themselves.

They also spoke to WTOP about the systems that make voting secure in their jurisdictions and in other states.

“First of all, paper ballots can’t be hacked, right?” Maryland elections administrator Jared DeMarinis said. “Like we are a paper ballot state; everyone votes on a paper ballot.”

On the machines that tabulate the results, “We do logic and accuracy testing prior to each election, which is for public observation,” DeMarinis said.

And after each election, the Maryland State Board of Elections runs audits to verify the accuracy of the count.

In Virginia, which is holding its primary election on Aug. 4, Samantha Alfaro, the communications manager for Loudoun County’s Office of Elections, said the decentralized nature of the nation’s election system is “a feature of our democracy.”

“I would say the fact that states, localities, cities all have different voting equipment makes elections secure,” Alfaro said.

Votes are recorded and counted on different equipment in states, cities and counties.

“I would say that voters in Loudoun County and Virginia and this country as well can depend on the election process,” she said. 

Alfaro also stressed that counting machines are not connected into the internet.

“All they do is count your ballot,” she said. 

Even so, there are continual checks to make sure election data is secured.

“We take cybersecurity very seriously, DeMarinis said. “It’s a top priority of my administration at the Board of Elections. Here, we are constantly monitoring our sites and systems for any bad actors.”

Public participation beyond the ballot box

Serving as an election officer is one way to learn more about the process firsthand.

DeMarinis said it takes what he called an “army” of citizens to help run elections, noting that the state hires roughly 26,000 election judges when voters head to the polls.

Similarly, in Virginia, “our elections are run by your friends and neighbors, so the person who’s checking you in at your precinct might be your neighbor or your kid’s teacher or the person who works at Trader Joe’s and is bagging your groceries,” Alfaro said.

Maryland and Virginia elections also provide for observers. The canvassing process, where the votes are processed and tabulated, is open to the public.

“That’s why we publicize when they are going to occur,” said DeMarinis.

The question of Maryland’s voter rolls

Earlier in July, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division threatened DeMarinis and elections officials in other states with criminal charges.

DeMarinis’ letter arrived after the agency lost a bid to force Maryland to turn over its voter records.

“There’s a lot of talk about, I guess, the SAVE Act and noncitizens on our rolls, and again, it’s just not true,” he said. 

“When they talk about wanting all these lists, it’s nothing more than a fishing expedition for mythical systematic evildoers that just again, don’t exist,” he said. “It’s more like the ‘Odyssey’ than reality.”

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