Minnesota Secretary Of State - Office Statement on Additional Steps to Protect Ballot Privacy
Skip to main content

News Room Archive


News Room


Office Statement on Additional Steps to Protect Ballot Privacy

October 14, 2022

SAINT PAUL —The Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State is aware of a new report outlining a privacy vulnerability in after-election reports created by Dominion ImageCast Precinct (ICP) and ImageCast Evolution (ICE) ballot scanners, which are used in six counties in Minnesota.

This vulnerability does not concern the way votes are recorded or election results reported. Instead, the vulnerability involves how files are named in cast vote records. Without taking mitigating steps, the current naming convention could potentially be used to identify how a person voted.  

At this time, the Minnesota counties that use the impacted machines have not used the cast vote record feature. If a county decides to use the cast vote record feature, a fix is available to prevent ballot identification. 

The Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State is working directly with the counties that use the impacted machines to ensure they are aware of the vulnerability and mitigation measures.