Cochise County and Election Systems & Software host voting equipment demo at Cochise College

To address questions Cochise County has received about voting machines and tabulation, the county hosted a presentation and Q & A with Election Systems & Software Wednesday.

Democratic Supervisor Ann English said the county and the board of supervisors want people to be informed about their voting systems.

"The best information comes from the people that put the machines together, put the programming together, etc." said English. "Some people are going to be convinced today when they leave here and some people will never be convinced. But this is an educational opportunity ... We’re just trying to educate you on what the equipment will or will not do.”

Election Systems & Software Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer Chris Wlaschin said the equipment has built-in security fail safes.

“If we were to fail and one of these devices were to be hacked somehow in a polling place or at the county office and manipulated, the worst thing that’s going to happen to one of these devices is it’s not going to turn on," said Wlaschin. "It’s not going to operate. There are security controls built in to detect if a foreign device is plugged into it, if code is changed.”

Young Mayberry, a St. David resident and former Republican candidate for Congress for district 6 said after the presentation, he was left with a sense of confidence.

“I was able to go up there today and operate the machines and stuff like that, and gave me a first-hand, truly hands-on experience on how the tabulation takes place, and gave me a sense of confidence that what’s going on is correct and above board,” Mayberry said.