OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — Ottawa County Clerk and Register of Deeds Justin Roebuck has announced two changes to the election process that aim to increase the county's election security.
Instead of unofficial election data being electronically transmitted, election workers will collect the data from local clerks' offices and deliver it to the county clerk's office. The results will be posted online after they are delivered. During the delivery process, the results will be in sealed containers with GPS tracking.
In addition, the results will now be posted on a ".gov" website, which the clerk's office hopes will garner trust in election results. There is a rigorous process to ensure every owner of a government website is a U.S.-based government or public sector organization.
The new website, not yet live, will be MIOttawaVotes.gov.
This change will allow Ottawa County residents to tell whether the election results can be trusted based on the website domain.
"These process improvements are a major part of our ongoing efforts to ensure the security and integrity of our elections," said Roebuck. "I’m excited that we can roll out changes now to ensure that our team is prepared in advance of next year’s presidential election cycle."
Because election data will be delivered by staff members, unofficial results will be posted to the county website later than in previous elections. Staff with the clerk's office are working to minimize this delay.
This announcement comes a week before the May 2 election.
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