With regard to election technologies, the American auditing company “Pro V&V” has delivered the results of two phases of the compliance audit. A meeting was held today at the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia, where the Chairperson and senior officials of the CEC received information on the main findings of the audit directly from the company’s representatives. The audit confirmed that the electronic devices are properly functioning.

Please note that Pro V&V is one of the two companies in the United States with the appropriate accreditation from relevant institutions. It has years of experience in the U.S. and is not only authorized to test voting systems but also issues licenses to vendor companies. According to Giorgi Kalandarishvili, the report presented by the company addresses all the widespread myths, disinformation, and questions related to the technologies.

As Jack Cobb, the Director of Pro V&V, noted, “The project we took on had three phases. The first phase involved reviewing the source code and were asked to trace, module by module, how voter lists were populated in each VIU. We followed the process from one module to the next, beginning with the insertion of the USB drive to when the voter lists were populated”.

Each VIU only contains the specific voter list it is designated to process. It does not hold the complete national voter list; it only has access to the voter list for its specific unit.

“The project had three phases. T, and we were essentially asked to go through each module to verify how voter lists were stored in each verification device. We followed the process from one module to the next, from inserting the USB card to loading the voter lists. After the activation of the precinct, each verification device only contains the voter list it needs to process on Election Day. It does not contain the full national voter list; it is specifically designed for a particular precinct and has access only to the voter list for that specific precinct”.

According to the compliance audit report: “The review of the source code and the configuration audit reveals that the voter lists existing on the CEC servers are in accordance with the lists loaded into the devices. It is impossible to duplicate a voter in the voter list, and each voter is entered into the list only once the voter list printed from the verification device is exactly the same as the list recorded in the verification device. One voter’s vote counts as one vote, and it is technologically impossible to modify or change their selection. The preliminary results printout (receipt) from the device contains only the data generated by the technology.

Representatives from the company “Smartmatic” also attended today’s meeting at the CEC. The Election Administration of Georgia implemented the introduction of technology in the electoral process in collaboration with this company.

This vendor company was selected as the winner of the tender conducted by the Procurement Agency and has experience in modernizing elections in over 30 countries. Currently, the company provides technological support for some of the largest electoral districts in the U.S., as well as in certain provinces of Canada, Belgium, Estonia, Argentina, Australia, Albania, Bulgaria, Armenia, and others”.

“Throughout the day, I personally observed the electoral process at the polling stations, which included both the opening and closing procedures. I want to emphasize that the members of the polling stations were well-trained; they knew very well how to act in the event of disruptions or unexpected developments, and technology also facilitated all of this as anticipated. Of course, minor shortcomings were noted, which is entirely understandable and should not raise doubts about the functioning of the technology”, - said Frans Gunnink, the Managing Director of Smartmatic International Holding B.V., after the meeting.