Hearing Transcript

1 STATE OF CALIFORNIA SECRETARY OF STATE OFFICE OF VOTING SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT PUBLIC HEARING ON REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF A VOTING SYSTEM THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES’ VOTING SOLUTIONS FOR ALL PEOPLE (VSAP) TALLY 1.0 VOTING SYSTEM CALIFORNIA SECRETARY OF STATE OFFICE BUILDING 1ST FLOOR AUDITORIUM 1500 11TH STREET SACRAMENTO, CA 95814 MONDAY, JULY 30, 2018 9:00 A.M. Reported by: CALIFORNIA REPORTING, LLC 229 Napa Street, Rodeo, California 94572 (510) 224-4476 2 Peter Petty APPEARANCES SECRETARY OF STATE STAFF: Susan Lapsley, Administration NaKesha Robinson, OVSTA Todd Ross, OVSTA CONTRACTORS/CONSULTANTS: Michael Santos, SLI Compliance PUBLIC COMMENT: INDEX PAGE I. Introductory Remarks 3 II. Secretary of State Report on the VSAP Tally 5 1.0 Voting System III. Presentation of Consultants’ Reports 9 III. Voting System Vendor Response to Reports -- V. Public Comment Period -- VI. Adjournment 13 CALIFORNIA REPORTING, LLC 229 Napa Street, Rodeo, California 94572 (510) 224-4476 3 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 9:06 a.m. 3 MS. LAPSLEY: Good morning, everyone. I'm Susan 4 Lapsley. I'm Deputy Secretary of State for the California 5 Secretary of State's Office. On the stage we have Todd 6 Ross, Mike Santos and NaKesha Robinson. Todd and NaKesha 7 are with the Secretary of State's Office, and in 8 particular, the Office of Voting Systems Technology 9 Assessment and Mike is with SLI, Inc. Inc? 10 MR. SANTOS: Compliance. 11 MS. LAPSLEY: Compliance, there we go. 12 Today we are going to have a public hearing on 13 the County of Los Angeles's VSAP Tally 1.0. You will hear 14 a Staff Report and then we will go into a Consultant's 15 Report and then the County of Los Angeles will have an 16 opportunity to give a response if they desire, to any of 17 the items that were presented in either of those reports. 18 After that we will open it up to public comment. 19 We're going to go over some ground rules here 20 first. There is no food or drink in the auditorium other 21 than water. And today, as I said we will be hearing about 22 the County of Los Angeles VSAP Tally 1.0 and taking public 23 comment on it. 24 The staff reports and consultant's reports and CALIFORNIA REPORTING, LLC 229 Napa Street, Rodeo, California 94572 (510) 224-4476 4 1 the use procedures are available on our website. You can 2 also contact the Secretary of State staff, anyone up here, 3 to get any of this information if you would like. 4 For those that would like to speak, they must 5 complete a speaker's card, which is at the back of the 6 room. Speaking time will be limited to three minutes. The 7 timekeeper, which is Rodney back there in the back, will 8 advise when 2:30 seconds has elapsed and then again, when 3 9 minutes has elapsed. A speaker may use additional time 10 that has been ceded to them by a maximum of two other 11 people who have signed a speaker card request. 12 Please note that we have a court stenographer 13 here taking a transcription of this meeting. This means 14 that if you speak, your name and your comments will be part 15 of the public record. They will post it on our Internet 16 website, so please state your name clearly for the 17 stenographer prior to beginning. 18 Also, the public hearing is being videotaped, 19 which will also be a part of the public record. 20 For written comments on the agenda item can be 21 submitted via email to votingsystem@sos.ca.gov or by mail 22 to the Secretary of State's Office attention Voting Systems 23 Comment 1500 11th Street, 6th Floor, Sacramento, California 24 95814. 25 Any written comments submitted to the Secretary CALIFORNIA REPORTING, LLC 229 Napa Street, Rodeo, California 94572 (510) 224-4476 5 1 of State also become part of the public record. 2 So with that, we'll go ahead and turn it over to 3 NaKesha to do the Staff Report. 4 MS. ROBINSON: The Staff Report presents the test 5 results for all phases of testing of the Certification Test 6 of the County of Los Angeles's VSAP Tally or Voting 7 Solutions for All People 1.0 Voting System. 8 The purpose of the testing is to test the 9 compliance of the voting system with California and federal 10 laws including the California Voting System Standards or 11 CVSS. Testing also uncovers other findings, which do not 12 constitute noncompliance and those findings are reported to 13 the voting system vendor to address the issues 14 procedurally. 15 The procedures for mitigating any additional 16 findings are made to the documentation, specifically the 17 County of Los Angeles use procedures. 18 The County of Los Angeles submitted an 19 application for the VSAP Tally 1.0 Central Tabulation 20 System on September 19th, 2017. The system is comprised of 21 the following major components: Voting Solutions for All 22 People, VSAP Tally Software Version 1.1.2.2 and an IBML 23 Image Track Scanner Version 6400. 24 In addition to these two components, which 25 includes the executable code and a source code the County CALIFORNIA REPORTING, LLC 229 Napa Street, Rodeo, California 94572 (510) 224-4476 6 1 of Los Angeles was required to submit the following. The 2 Tactical Data Package or the TDP, all the hardware 3 components too including all peripheral devices needed for 4 the functional test phase and the security and 5 telecommunications testing phases in addition to the VSAP 6 Tally Blended Use Procedures. The VSAP Tally 1.0 solution 7 is solely used for scanning and tabulating vote by mail 8 ballots. 9 The system will be used in a blended environment 10 with the County of Los Angeles's legacy system 11 Microcomputer Tally System or MTS Version 1.3.1 using 12 InkaVote ballots, which tabulate precinct ballots. 13 Upon receipt of a complete application the 14 Secretary of State released a Request for Quote or an RFQ 15 for assistance with the software testing, Source Code 16 Review and security and telecommunications testing. 17 Through the formal California contracting process the 18 Secretary of State awarded a contract to SLI Compliance or 19 SLI, a division of Gaming Laboratories International, LLC. 20 Functional and volume testing of the system was 21 conducted by Secretary of State staff in Norwalk, 22 California from May 23rd to May 25th, 2018. The 23 configuration of the equipment including a build from the 24 ground up was witnessed by Secretary of State staff on May 25 23rd using the configuration procedures provided by the CALIFORNIA REPORTING, LLC 229 Napa Street, Rodeo, California 94572 (510) 224-4476 7 1 County of Los Angeles. 2 Software testing or the Source Code Review was 3 performed by SLI Compliance from June 11th to July 12th, 4 2018. Security and telecommunications testing was 5 performed in Norwalk, California from July 2nd to July 3rd. 6 Mike Santos of SLI will present the findings of those 7 phases of testing later. 8 So summary of the Functional Test, preparation 9 for functional testing and all subsequent testing began on 10 May 23rd. The system is self-contained on an air-gapped 11 network, per the CVSS requirements. Secretary of State 12 staff witnessed the build of the test environment utilizing 13 the vendor provided use procedures, which included 14 installation of the operating system, commercial-off-the- 15 shelf software, tabulation software, and hardening of the 16 system. 17 There was some documentations noted by Secretary 18 of State staff and subsequently the County of Los Angeles 19 made those modifications. 20 During functional testing, there was one 21 particular anomaly to report during testing of the election 22 type Primary-Countywide Vote Center Model. The reports 23 displayed in Treasurer Contest came out as of 2 out of 4 24 instead of 4 out of 4. In addition, there was a Ballot Out 25 Stack error where the Superintendent of Education and CALIFORNIA REPORTING, LLC 229 Napa Street, Rodeo, California 94572 (510) 224-4476 8 1 Measure I, with those two contests, one ballot had debris 2 that cannot be seen with the naked eye, but the scanner 3 picked it up with a valid count. 4 The resolution to that anomaly was sensitivity 5 settings were adjusted in the configuration file. And 6 subsequently we ran the ballot five additional times, just 7 to make sure it came out clear after making that 8 adjustment. 9 The Volume Test, the Volume Test simulates 10 conditions in which the system components would be used on 11 Election Day. Volume testing of the VSAP Tally system took 12 place in Los Angeles County on May 24, 2018. Test ballots 13 from the California 2014 General Election were scanned for 14 over seven hours. The use of this election required an 15 edit of the configuration file within the Tally system. 16 And the results of that testing, on 11 different 17 instances, 10 in particular with the IBML Scanner we 18 received gap violations, which is essentially the scanner 19 is sensitive to the amount of space in between two ballots 20 in the feeder. The mitigation to this error is the use 21 procedures and operator cards at the scanner will remind 22 operators of the scanner that adequate spacing between the 23 ballots is necessary in placing them into the feeder. 24 The second error to note only occurred once and 25 that was the double feed error where two ballots were stuck CALIFORNIA REPORTING, LLC 229 Napa Street, Rodeo, California 94572 (510) 224-4476 9 1 together. IBML suggested that adjustments be made to the 2 scanner to alleviate gap and double feed errors. Those 3 suggestions were incorporated into the daily maintenance 4 routine where Los Angeles County operators will follow 5 during the tally process. Additionally, operators will 6 also be advised to use a ballot jogger. And these 7 instructions will also be incorporated in to the use 8 procedures. 9 The next error was a "document too long error" 10 and this required that a ballot be pulled off the track and 11 delicately hand fed into the scanner. 12 And lastly, a ballot out stack, which occurred 13 because there was a slight fold in the corner of the ballot 14 covering the registration mark. And additionally, the use 15 procedures were modified to remind operators to make sure 16 the ballots are all folded out accordingly. 17 And that concludes the Staff Report. Thank you. 18 MR. SANTOS: Good morning, I am Michael Santos 19 from SLI Compliance. We were tasked by the State of 20 California to review the VSAP Tally application with two 21 main priorities: one being a Security Review and the other 22 one being a Source Code Review. 23 The VSAP Tally System is an air gapped system 24 consisting of a central high-speed optical scan ballot 25 counter and tabulator and is used for processing ballots. CALIFORNIA REPORTING, LLC 229 Napa Street, Rodeo, California 94572 (510) 224-4476 10 1 This ballot counter unit is based on commercial 2 off-the-shelf hardware coupled with custom-made ballot 3 processing application software. 4 First, I'm going to go ahead and speak to the 5 security. It was actually security in telecommunications. 6 We looked at the system from a security point of view in 7 four main areas. One of them was documentation review, the 8 other was functional security testing. We also looked at 9 it in telecommunications and data transmission testing and 10 well as performing an onsite review at L.A. County. 11 The testing approach that was implemented against 12 the system followed the California Voting System Standards. 13 We looked at the system in two areas. One was what we 14 describe as discrepancies, which would be considered 15 against potentially a CVSS requirement. But we also looked 16 at the system in terms of vulnerabilities or potential 17 vulnerabilities. 18 It's important to note that the system in an air 19 gapped solution, which we'll speak to a little bit more. 20 In reviewing the system there were five minor findings 21 located within the security documentation review portion 22 that dealt primarily with some of the documentation being 23 somewhat vague or partially missing some of the 24 documentation. 25 Within the Documentation Review there were no CALIFORNIA REPORTING, LLC 229 Napa Street, Rodeo, California 94572 (510) 224-4476 11 1 vulnerabilities discovered or determined. Three findings 2 were written during the telecommunications and data 3 transmission testing portion of the system with the impact 4 being determined to be minimal, again due to the air gap 5 nature of the system. 6 From a security point of view, there were no 7 actual discrepancies determined within the system. 8 During the Vulnerability Review, 58 9 vulnerabilities were located, 6 of them being determined to 10 be of medium severity dealing primarily with certificates 11 and signing of different data aspects. Two were determined 12 to be low-severity vulnerabilities that deal with cipher 13 suites being enabled or supported. There were 50 14 informational severity vulnerabilities. These 15 vulnerabilities are of an informational nature and include 16 reconnaissance information that helps to identify the 17 system including open ports, operating system type and 18 version and surfaces detected. 19 The vulnerabilities explored and detected are 20 believed to be negligible and have little or no impact on 21 the overall security of the system. Again, because this is 22 an air gapped system a lot of these vulnerabilities are 23 looked at from a security point of view, are negligible due 24 to the system being isolated. 25 During the Onsite Security Review there were CALIFORNIA REPORTING, LLC 229 Napa Street, Rodeo, California 94572 (510) 224-4476 12 1 three findings and two observations were located against 2 the Tally system. The impact to the overall security 3 posture of the solution as a whole was determined to be 4 minimal. The vulnerabilities explored and detected are 5 believed to be negligible and have little or no impact on 6 the overall security of the system was the conclusion 7 determined by our security analyst who performed the 8 testing on this system. 9 So that kind of covers the security portion of 10 the VSAP Tally. 11 In terms of Source Code Review the VSAP Tally 12 system includes proprietary software and firmware. The 13 system was tested against applicable CVSS requirements. In 14 part, this included a custom review of sorts against the 15 programming language that's being implemented by the Tally 16 system. So in addition to the CVSS requirements, we also 17 reviewed the Source Code against the GO programming 18 language specification as well as the effective GO 19 specification. 20 And in terms of Source Code Review, no 21 discrepancy findings were determined nor were any 22 vulnerabilities identified within the code base. 23 So this concludes the Security and the Source 24 Code Review for SLI Compliance. Thank you. 25 MS. LAPSLEY: Thank you, NaKesha, and thank you, CALIFORNIA REPORTING, LLC 229 Napa Street, Rodeo, California 94572 (510) 224-4476 13 1 Mike. 2 So Los Angeles County, would you like to address 3 any of the issues in the reports? If you do, please step 4 up to the microphone over there, state your name clearly 5 for the stenographer and for those that are present. 6 Is that a no? All right. 7 We also do not have anyone here for public 8 comment, so after having given the Staff Report and the 9 Consultant's Report and Los Angeles County not wanting or 10 needing to provide any additional information we'll go 11 ahead and close the public hearing. 12 Thank you everyone for coming and for your time 13 today. We appreciate it. 14 (Whereupon, the Public Hearing was adjourned 15 at 9:21 a.m.) 16 --oOo-- 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 CALIFORNIA REPORTING, LLC 229 Napa Street, Rodeo, California 94572 (510) 224-4476 14 1 REPORTER’S CERTIFICATE I do hereby certify that the testimony in the foregoing hearing was taken at the time and place therein stated; that the testimony of said witnesses were reported by me, a certified electronic court reporter and a disinterested person, and was under my supervision thereafter transcribed into typewriting. And I further certify that I am not of counsel or attorney for either or any of the parties to said hearing nor in any way interested in the outcome of the cause named in said caption. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 17th day of August, 2018. PETER PETTY CER**D-493 CALIFORNIA REPORTING, LLC 229 Napa Street, Rodeo, California 94572 (510) 224-4476 15 Notary Public TRANSCRIBER'S CERTIFICATE I do hereby certify that the testimony in the foregoing hearing was taken at the time and place therein stated; that the testimony of said witnesses were transcribed by me, a certified transcriber and a disinterested person, and was under my supervision thereafter transcribed into typewriting. And I further certify that I am not of counsel or attorney for either or any of the parties to said hearing nor in any way interested in the outcome of the cause named in said caption. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 17th day of August, 2018. _________________ Myra Severtson Certified Transcriber AAERT No. CET**D-852 CALIFORNIA REPORTING, LLC 229 Napa Street, Rodeo, California 94572 (510) 224-4476 16 CALIFORNIA REPORTING, LLC 229 Napa Street, Rodeo, California 94572 (510) 224-4476