INVESTIGATION: Does Johnston County use unlawful internet-connected voting equipment?

No, it does not appear to be the case

In the post-2020 era, election fraud concern is a politically polarized topic; major North Carolina media outlets are more likely to frame any election integrity interest as "putting new burdens on election officials" or associate it with "the violent Jan 6, 2021 attack" than to give the concerns of millions of Americans a fair shake.

However, given that confidence in the integrity of electoral functions is essential to a successful Democracy, I find it incumbent on myself, as an independent journalist, to attempt to get to the bottom of suspicious election-related circumstances reported by citizens in the Greater Triangle area.

To answer the question posed in the headline of this article: No, the mobile hotspots used by the Johnston County Board of Elections at early voting sites do not appear to be in violation of state law.

Although a journalistic investigation which fails to find any wrongdoing will often be shelved due to a lack of "newsworthiness", I believe laying out the investigative process I followed will serve the dual purpose of building trust, as well as educating an election-integrity-minded audience as to some of the minutiae of North Carolina election law and processes.

A citizen's observations

On May 10, an eagle-eyed Johnston County citizen who goes by "truthsearch1776" on Twitter/X noticed that there appeared to be two cords running from tabulator to the wall at the Archer Lodge early voting site for the primary runoff election.

Truthsearch1776 contacted the Johnston County Board of Elections, and was informed that the second power cord was for a "Jetpack" device, a mobile hotspot device which allows an internet connection via the cellular network to be shared to multiple devices over WiFi.

When Truthsearch1776 returned to the location on election day, the Jetpack/power supply was apparently no longer present.

Context: "voting system" network connectivity in North Carolina law

Although modems were once used in North Carolina to aid in the rapid transmission of election results from the polling site tabulators to county election headquarters, the use of network-connected "voting systems" was banned in North Carolina by the 2018 "Elections Security and Transparency Act". Although Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the bill, which he referred to as "election meddling for partisan advantage", the Republicans in the NC General Assembly were able to override the veto on a party line vote, and set the following restriction into law:

N.C.G.S. § 163‑165.7. Voting systems: powers and duties of State Board
(j) No voting system used in any election in this State shall be connected to a network, and any feature allowing connection to a network shall be disabled. Prohibited network connections include the Internet, intranet, fax, telephone line, networks established via modem, or any other wired or wireless connection.

Despite the clear prohibition in the law, the presence of modem chips in voting systems has been a subject of controversy in NC.

In April 2021, election integrity activist Jay DeLancy of the Voter Integrity Project called for a legislative audit after a modem chip was found in on the motherboard of an Election Systems & Software (ES&S) DS200 in Michigan, the same model of tabulator which is used widely across NC counties.

In response to a related inquiry by Rep. George Cleveland (R-Onslow), the NC State Board of Elections (NCSBE) cited the anti-connectivity provision in the law, and gave assurances that the referenced modem component was not present in any DS200 tabulators in use in North Carolina.

In July 2021, NCSBE Executive Director Karen Bell denied efforts by the NC House Freedom Caucus to inspect randomly selected voting equipment for the presence of modems, claiming that any inspection would be "tamper[ing]", and require the equipment's replacement.

Just months later, in December, the NCSBE admitted that “obsolete analog modem hardware” was being removed from older ES&S model M100s in five North Carolina counties Watauga, Graham, Macon, Montgomery, and Swain. The board maintained that the law had been followed, as the modems were disabled, and characterized the removal as an attempt to "avoid[] any opportunity for people to spread misinformation":

“It was not possible for any individual to connect to these antiquated modems before their removal, and they are no longer present in any voting machines in North Carolina,” according to the elections board memo. “Furthermore, any use of modeming was halted upon the enactment of the law prohibiting modems and coding for modem use was discontinued, making it impossible for results to be transmitted.”

Source: Modems removed from voting machines in five N.C. counties (Carolina Journal)

The law's prohibition applies to "voting systems", which is defined in the statute as "a system of casting and tabulating ballots":

N.C.G.S. § 163‑165. Definitions.
(11) "Voting system" means a system of casting and tabulating ballots. The term includes systems of paper ballots counted by hand as well as systems utilizing mechanical and electronic voting equipment.

Most relevantly, for this article, the term "voting system" does not encompass "electronic poll books", which are also subject to certification by the NCSBE.

The investigation

When I spoke with Johnston County Elections Director Leigh Anne Price, she clarified that the Jetpack devices are only used to provide VPN-secured internet connectivity for the On-Site Voter Registration Database (OVRD) electronic poll book, and that the devices are only used for early voting.

Although it's used in at least 65 of NC's 100 counties, there is surprisingly little information available to the public about OVRD besides the fact that it was created by the NCSBE.

The NCSBE maintains web pages of the containing information and documents regarding the "voting systems" which are certified in the state, and holds public demonstrations of by third party vendors seeking certification of new "voting systems", but there does not seem to be any equivalent for the OVRD "electronic poll book" maintained by the NCSBE.

Although I was able to find a training manual for OVRD from the New Hanover County Board of Elections, it does not appear to contain any information on internet connectivity, or the difference in early voting vs election day use.

When contacted via email in June with a series of a questions regarding the use of OVRD, NCSBE spokesman Patrick Gannon indicated that answers would be forthcoming: "We are working on responses, which I hope to get to you in the next couple of days".

However, with no further response in the nearly 60 days since the receipt of that communication, we are left to surmise what we can from the available evidence.

During the early voting period, registered voters may vote in-person at any early voting site in their county. Early voting sites also provide same-day registration during the in-person early voting period, allowing unregistered voters to register and cast a ballot during the same visit.

In contrast, Election Day voters must already be registered and can only cast their (non-provisional) ballot at their assigned polling place, providing an explanation for why an electronic poll book system would only use internet connectivity during the early voting period.

If you have questions, comments, or tips regarding other election-integrity-related stories in the Greater Triangle area which you believe should be investigated, please feel free to reach out via email, or respond below.