From the Desk of Sharon Meroni

Executive Director of Defend the Vote

December 2, 2011

Defend the Vote is an Illinois not-for-profit, non-partisan organization with the mission to empower citizens to protect elections.  Our 2012 activities are focused primarily on ballot security.  In addition, we have ongoing initiatives concerning the security of the voter registration rolls and in legal aspects related to qualifying for ballot access.  We wish to introduce ourselves to you, and acquaint you with our objectives.

A major part of our activity in support of ballot integrity in Illinois involves evaluation of security protocols in place to protect the integrity of the vote. In 2012, Defend the Vote is conducting a state-wide security assessment of elections in Illinois.  In April 2011, Defend the Vote conducted a vulnerability assessment and security audit of the Chicago Board of Elections.  This report has been peer reviewed and published in Argonne National Laboratory’s October edition of the prestigious Journal of Physical Security. You can read the in-depth report at this link.

In 2012, Defend the Vote will expand this effort to a sampling of polling place procedures statewide.  Our program is called the “VAP” – The Voter Auditor Pollwatching program.  Registered voters who take the training course will be provided pollwatching credentials to score their precinct for compliance with security protocols.  The Election Day assessment consists of scoring polling place compliance with security protocols as well as assessing the ability of the security protocols to secure the vote.  The results will be collected and analyzed statewide.

We seek your assistance in obtaining information concerning security protocols in place within your election jurisdiction.  Our objective is to have a local coordinator in each county who will seek to liaison with election authorities as we promote citizen participation for better elections in Illinois.  We will also be reviewing processes and procedures for all early voting, absentee voting and Election Day voting to see if any suggestions on security improvements can be made.  Finally, part of our program includes reviewing the availability of information to the public about the security of their vote.

While we are just at the beginning phase of this process, please be assured that Defend the Vote has no hidden political agenda, and is working with County Clerks of whatever affiliation across the state.

We look forward to working with you!

Regards,

Sharon Meroni

Sharon Meroni

Executive Director of Defend the Vote

847-382-1100