MADISON – State Representative Timothy Ramthun (R-Campbellsport) released the following statement regarding the WI Elections Commission (WEC) meeting on Thursday, September 9th:
“On August 11th, I put out a press release stressing the need to protect voting machine data. I was gravely concerned about the potential loss of data during manufacturer-requested updates. The response I received was not what was needed, with my call being met with indifference and lack of action by leadership.”
“However, my sense of urgency was justified during last week’s WEC meeting. During the debate over allowing voting machine manufacturer ES&S to perform these updates, it was revealed that IP log files are not saved when data is transferred from the machines for safekeeping. State statute requires this data to be kept for 22 months after every election.”
“All data should be protected, not just ballot data. Despite this revelation, the WEC voted to give ES&S the authority to do these upgrades. Even with an amended motion, there’s no way to guarantee all data will be protected. Why is the body responsible for securing our state’s elections treating the topic of election integrity so flippantly?”
“A court injunction is necessary to stop upgrades on every machine until all investigations are complete. USB drives with the machine data must be preserved. The potential loss of forensic data is unacceptable.”
