A Voting System Test Laboratory (VSTL) is a private company, accredited by the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC), and contracted by an election equipment manufacturer (such as Dominion, ES&S, HART, Smartmatic, etc.) to audit their machines and certify whether or not they pass the EAC standards.
Accredited Companies
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Pro V&V
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SLI Compliance
Significant Concerns
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Pro V&V did not have active accreditation when it certified Dominion machines for use in the 2020 election. See the Colorado report.
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Maricopa County in Arizona chose to use two VSTL firms, Pro V&V and SLI Compliance to do an internal audit of their 2020 election results, despite objections from the state Senate. See the Arizona report. The findings did little to secure election integrity, and the Senate proceeded with their full forensic audit.
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Equipment manufacturers may choose which VSTL they use when applying for certification
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Equipment manufacturers pay the VSTL directly, which creates a conflict of interest. If a VSTL’s income comes from the equipment companies, it’s quite possible for them to apply special favor to their client in order to retain the client and stay in business.
- Pro V&V openly stated on their website that their focus is their clients — not the people, not the state, nor the government that they’re certifying for, but their paying customers.
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There are no regulations on the price charged by the VSTL for certification
The following video goes into much greater detail about the concerns of this arrangement:
References
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State Requirements and the Federal Voting System Testing and Certification Program
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VSTL manual from EAC — the accreditation requirements are particularly relevant. One needs to refer to this version (not the new version approved in February 2021) as version 2.0 was pertinent to 2018 and 2020 elections.