{"id":11497,"date":"2022-08-03T14:53:14","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T14:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/03\/atts-3g-shutdown-catches-blame-for-a-major-election-headache-in-michigan\/"},"modified":"2022-08-03T14:53:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T14:53:15","slug":"atts-3g-shutdown-catches-blame-for-a-major-election-headache-in-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/03\/atts-3g-shutdown-catches-blame-for-a-major-election-headache-in-michigan\/","title":{"rendered":"AT&T\u2019s 3G shutdown catches blame for a major election headache in Michigan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/8\/3\/23289999\/att-3g-shutdown-michigan-wayne-county-election-midterms<\/a>
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Some Michigan counties can\u2019t immediately report Tuesday night\u2019s election results due to a confusing mix of federal vote reporting guidance and AT&T\u2019s decision to retire its 3G networks this past February.<\/p>\n

In a website alert<\/a>, the Wayne County clerk\u2019s office confirmed that 65 of Michigan\u2019s 83 total counties \u201care no longer modeming unofficial election results.\u201d Wayne County is where Detroit is located, and it\u2019s the state\u2019s biggest county by population, with about 1.8 million residents. It\u2019s unclear how many are due to county officials that did not upgrade their own modems, or if this is due to U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) guidelines advising against using modems. <\/p>\n

In section 14.2-E, the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines <\/a>(VVSG) 2.0 established in February 2021 advised against connecting voting systems to the internet. The guidelines cited the risk of ransomware, the ability for attackers to view files within the system, or modify files within it that have to do with election results and ballot records.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has significantly delayed the reporting process,\u201d the Tuesday night Wayne County alert read. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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When asked if the modems would be upgraded the answer was the state isn’t certifying upgrades. <\/p>\n

When I asked why we weren’t told about the plan to scrap the modems I wasn’t given a direct answer. Only that the intent was to make the election more secure. 3\/<\/p>\n

\u2014 Grant Hermes (@GrantHermes) August 3, 2022<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Early Wednesday morning, the Wayne County clerk\u2019s office told WDIV reporter Grant Hermes<\/a> that the plan was never to use the modems, which hadn\u2019t been updated for 4G LTE or 5G because the state is no longer certifying upgrades. At least in Wayne County, Hermes reports the results are driven from precincts to city and township halls, manually read into a computer there, exported, and sent to the county using secure FTP.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Michigan, Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum told The Verge<\/em> that to be cyber security conscious, \u201cwe have never modemed results. So this did not change our process in Ingham County.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement emailed to The Verge<\/em> early Wednesday morning, Tracy Wimmer, the director of media relations for the Secretary of State, explained the steps that have been taken to present any possibility of interference and to counter misinformation about voting that has focused on the use of modems. \u201cThe unofficial results from polling places are being driven by election workers in vehicles in the many counties that are phasing out the use of modems to transmit unofficial results … Counties are phasing out modems on different schedules because of their specific voting system configurations and county needs – for example, all 65 Dominion systems no longer use modems.\u201d<\/p>\n

AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

After announcing its plans to end its 3G wireless network in 2019, the provider officially sunset the service this past February<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Wayne County Clerk:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Election Results Update<\/p>\n

Based on the recommendation of the Voluntary Voting Systems Guideline 2.0 issued by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, coupled with AT&T\u2019s decision in March 2022 to no longer support 3G modems, 65 out of 83 Counties in Michigan are no longer modeming unofficial election results. This has signficantly delayed the reporting process. 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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Michigan Secretary of State:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Polling places have closed and publicly posted unofficial results across Michigan and those unofficial results are being transmitted to county clerk offices. Meanwhile, many absentee ballot counting boards continue to count the votes of as many as half or more of the jurisdictions\u2019 ballots, and full unofficial results cannot be known until all absentee ballots are counted. The unofficial results from polling places are being driven by election workers in vehicles in the many counties that are phasing out the use of modems to transmit unofficial results. This is being done in accordance with guidance issued by the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission in order to prevent any remote possibility of interference, and to counter misinformation that has been circulated concerning the use of modems. Counties are phasing out modems on different schedules because of their specific voting system configurations and county needs – for example, all 65 Dominion systems no longer use modems.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Update August 2nd, 1:58AM ET:<\/strong><\/em> Added additional information from the Wayne County Clerk, and a statement from the office of the Michigan Secretary of State.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


<\/br><\/code><\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/8\/3\/23289999\/att-3g-shutdown-michigan-wayne-county-election-midterms<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: Some Michigan counties can\u2019t immediately report Tuesday night\u2019s election results due to a confusing mix of federal vote reporting guidance and AT&T\u2019s decision to retire its 3G networks this past February. In a website alert, the Wayne County clerk\u2019s office confirmed that 65 of Michigan\u2019s 83 total counties \u201care no longer modeming unofficial election […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-11497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-policy","category-technology","tag-policy"],"yoast_head":"\nAT&T\u2019s 3G shutdown catches blame for a major election headache in Michigan - Science and Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/03\/atts-3g-shutdown-catches-blame-for-a-major-election-headache-in-michigan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AT&T\u2019s 3G shutdown catches blame for a major election headache in Michigan - Science and Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Source: Some Michigan counties can\u2019t immediately report Tuesday night\u2019s election results due to a confusing mix of federal vote reporting guidance and AT&T\u2019s decision to retire its 3G networks this past February. 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