AT&T’s 3G shutdown catches blame for a major election headache in Michigan

Some Michigan counties can't immediately report Tuesday night's election results due to a confusing mix of federal vote reporting guidance and AT&T's decision to retire its 3G networks

Sixty-five of Michigan's 83 total counties are no longer modeming unofficial election results, according to the Wayne County clerk's office. In terms of population, Wayne County is the biggest county in the state with almost 2 million people. It is not known how many are due to county officials that did not upgrade their own modems, or how many are due to U.S. election assistance commission guidelines.

Voting systems should not be connected to the internet according to the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines. The risk of ransomware, the ability for attackers to view files within the system, or modify files that have to do with election results were cited by the guidelines.

The Tuesday night alert said that the reporting process had been delayed. We don't know when we will reach 100 percent reporting, but we will continue to work until we achieve this.

When asked if the modems would be upgraded the answer was the state isn't certifying upgrades.



When I asked why we weren't told about the plan to scrap the modems I wasn't given a direct answer. Only that the intent was to make the election more secure. 3/

— Grant Hermes (@GrantHermes) August 3, 2022

According to the Wayne County clerk's office, the plan was never to use the modems because they hadn't been updated for 5G. In Wayne County, the results are driven from precinct to city and township halls, manually read into a computer there, exported, and sent to the county using a secure file transfer protocol.

Barb Byrum, the clerk in Michigan's Ingham County, said that they have never modemed results. This didn't change our process in the county.

Tracy Wimmer, the director of media relations for the Secretary of State, explained the steps that have been taken to present any possibility of interference and to counter misinformation about voting that has focused on the use of modem. The unofficial results from polling places are being driven by election workers in vehicles in the many counties that have stopped using modems to transmit unofficial results. All 65 Dominion systems no longer use modems because they are phased out on different schedules by the counties.

AT&T did not reply to the request.

The provider ended its 3G service in February of this year.

The clerk of the county.

Election Results Update

Based on the recommendation of the Voluntary Voting Systems Guideline 2.0 issued by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, coupled with AT&T’s decision in March 2022 to no longer support 3G modems, 65 out of 83 Counties in Michigan are no longer modeming unofficial election results. This has signficantly delayed the reporting process. We do not have a definitive time of when we will reach 100 percent reporting, but will continue to work throughout the evening and morning until this is achieved.

The secretary of state in Michigan.

Polling places have closed and publicly posted unofficial results across Michigan and those unofficial results are being transmitted to county clerk offices. Meanwhile, many absentee ballot counting boards continue to count the votes of as many as half or more of the jurisdictions’ ballots, and full unofficial results cannot be known until all absentee ballots are counted. The unofficial results from polling places are being driven by election workers in vehicles in the many counties that are phasing out the use of modems to transmit unofficial results. This is being done in accordance with guidance issued by the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission in order to prevent any remote possibility of interference, and to counter misinformation that has been circulated concerning the use of modems. Counties are phasing out modems on different schedules because of their specific voting system configurations and county needs - for example, all 65 Dominion systems no longer use modems.

The statement from the office of the Michigan Secretary of State was added.