I Turned Off the Modems

I want to share an important decision I made as your County Clerk - one that tells you a lot about how I lead, and exactly how I’ll operate as Michigan’s next Secretary of State.

Not long after I was elected in 2020, I started asking more questions about the technology being used in our election process. One thing immediately stood out to me as a red flag from a security standpoint: the presence of modems connected to election tabulators.

Any time you introduce connectivity into sensitive systems, you increase risk - period. And when we’re talking about the public’s vote, we cannot afford unnecessary risk or uncertainty.

So in 2021, I shut off the modems - and I didn’t stop there. I completely removed the hardware that allowed electronic transmission of data from the tabulators.

We were the first county clerk to shut them off, and the first in the state to take that step.

Why did I do it? Because I believe election integrity isn’t a slogan - it’s a responsibility. And leadership means doing what’s right, even when it isn’t easy.

It might surprise you but I caught a lot of grief for it. People on the left and the right had opinions. Some criticized the move because results came in slower. But my response was simple: when it comes to your vote, I’m not fooling around. If removing that connection takes a little more time but removes doubt, increases confidence, and reduces the risk of interference, then yes, it’s worth it.

Part of what prompted my decision was that we weren’t getting cooperation from a major vendor to provide information about the transmissions we were requesting. And when I heard that, I announced to my team, "If that’s how this is going to be, we’re not moving forward with modems at all. I shut them off and removed them from the tabulators."

As a side note, the company eventually sent the information I had been asking for, but by then my mind was made up. Because this isn’t about convenience. It’s about confidence.
Security and speed do not have to be enemies. We can report results efficiently without connecting tabulators to outside transmission devices. The right way to handle this is straightforward: after the ballots are tabulated and the memory sticks are removed, results can be transmitted electronically from the clerk’s office, not from the tabulator itself. That’s a safer chain of custody and a smarter process.

As Secretary of State, I’ll work to ensure Michigan has a faster, cleaner system for reporting election night results - without compromising security and without introducing avoidable vulnerabilities.

This is what I’ve done as County Clerk. It’s how I’ll lead statewide: identify the risks, take decisive action, and protect the integrity of every citizen’s vote.