How to Steal an Election for Only $127

HAGERSTOWN, MD News (4/18/2024) – A recent investigation by Radio Free Hub City has found significant security concerns with the ballot drop boxes available across the State of Maryland. This investigation was the result of multiple requests from local residents in Washington County regarding the security of these boxes. The results identified multiple security concerns, including easily bypassed locks.

This information is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It is a crime to tamper with ballot drop boxes. Radio Free Hub City is not responsible for how you use the information in this article, and readers should not attempt to tamper with the ballot drop boxes.

We examined the ballot drop boxes at two different locations in Washington County, including Boonsboro and Hagerstown. At both locations we recorded the exact same security measures in place for both boxes, and believe it is reasonable to believe the same security measures are in place across the county, and possibly the entire state. Examining online photos of ballot drop boxes across the state, we identified multiple brand locks being used across the state, but most of these locks appeared to be consumer grade and likely easily picked or bypassed.

Radio Free Hub City reached out to the Maryland Board of Elections regarding what security measures the Board of Elections has in place to prevent tampering, but only received a very minimal response, including that the ballot boxes have two locks on them, and that they are under 24/7 surveillance.

First, it’s important to understand that it is against the law to tamper with any of the election boxes. All of the investigation performed by Radio Free Hub City was conducted with visual examination only, and did not at any point in time make physical contact with the boxes. Residents should absolutely not attempt to tamper with the election boxes or their locks in any manner. This investigation also only evaluates a single attack method against the election boxes utilizing a commonly available bypass tool – other attack methods exist, some of which would be more destructive, such as simply cutting the lock and replacing it with an identical appearing lock (think of the chaos that would cause, keys not working on election drop boxes). We do not explore every attack method in this article.

Boxes outside of Washington County were not examined, but it is our belief that similar security measures are in place across the rest of the State of Maryland.

Understanding how the boxes work

All of the boxes are made of metal, probably aluminum, and there is a slot on the front of each box, which allows residents to deposit ballots. The boxes have two locks on them, and it’s believed the top lock is used for opening/closing the ballot collection slot, while the bottom lock is used for accessing any ballots which have been placed inside.

The boxes have notices that they are under surveillance, as well as notices that tampering with the boxes are a crime. There is also a red serialized sticker seal on the front of each box. Once again, Radio Free Hub City did not tamper with any of the boxes, and conducted visual examinations only.

Disabling the CCTV surveillance

It’s important to realize that while the ballot drop boxes are under 24/7 surveillance, this does not mean someone is watching live 24/7. Likely, the CCTV surveillance is being recorded, and only reviewed if something suspicious is noticed with one of the boxes. Unfortunately, as demonstrated in the following video, the CCTV can be blinded with a $40 flashlight, or even an infrared light. By using an infrared light, passers by would have no idea that someone was intentionally blinding the camera. An untrained operator will possibly believe this was simply a camera malfunction if they happen to even see it while reviewing camera footage.

Removing the seal without a trace

The next step in accessing these ballot boxes is to break the security seal. These seals appear to be ordinary sticker seals, designed to show if the box has been tampered with. However, as illustrated in the video below, stickers can typically be removed without damage by using a heat tool and a razor blade or utility knife. Then a small drop of glue could be used to reattach the seal once finished inside the box. Heat tools can be purchased from Amazon for $44, and utility knives can be purchased from Amazon for $5.

Bypassing the Lock

The lock used on the boxes appears to be an American Lock 1100 series. These locks typically cost $20 each, and are often “keyed alike” when ordered in sets, meaning that a single batch of these locks can all be opened by a single key. Both of these locks can be bypassed with a simple bypass tool, as illustrated in the video below. Bypass tools cost approximately $24 on various locksmithing supply sites.

Making your own master key

While it’s rather simple to bypass the lock with a bypass tool, it’s also possible to create your own master key once you have your hands on one of these locks. After opening the lock, the full cylinder inside the lock can be removed, allowing you to examine the lock and create a key based on the pin settings inside the lock. This video illustrates the process for disassembling the lock.

Accessing the ballots

Now that you can access the ballot envelopes, you’ll need to get access to the ballots themselves without damaging the envelope. To do this, you can use steam from a teakettle. The ballot envelopes can then be re-sealed with a small amount of glue. A simple teakettle can be purchased from Amazon for $9, but likely found at local thrift stores for even cheaper.

So what’s the total cost to bypass the security measures?

Based upon the prices we found online to do each of the steps above (excluding making your own master key), the cost to bypass the ballot drop box security is as follows:

Item	Cost
Flashlight	$40
Heat Tool	$44
Utility Knife	$5
Lock Bypass Tool	$24
Teakettle	$9
Glue	$5
Total	$127

That makes the total cost to access the ballot drop boxes and modify the election results at $127, plus tax of course. And for this low cost, a person with malicious intentions could gain access to ballot drop boxes across the county (and probably the rest of the state) with very low chance that they’ll be detected doing so.

Fixing the Security of the Drop Boxes

As part of the investigation, we reached out to a local security expert to get a better idea on how these security measures are failing, and how they can be improved. Christopher Christie, owner of Able Locksmiths in Frederick, MD, highlighted potential solutions to enhance the security of these ballot drop boxes. He recommended the implementation of Medeco CLIQ All Weather Padlocks (AWP), renowned for their robustness and waterproofing capabilities. Christie emphasized the necessity of visible signs of forced entry and the importance of timestamping access to the boxes by authorized personnel. He underscored the significance of employing access control mechanisms (CLIQ) with electronic audit trails to monitor and track box access securely.

Furthermore, Christie stressed the need for clear standard operating procedures (SOP) in case of vandalism or attempted forced entry. Questions regarding protocol in such scenarios, including whether ballots found in vandalized boxes would be counted or if affected voters would be notified, were raised.

Addressing potential ballot tampering concerns, Christie proposed the integration of QR codes or similar identifiers on ballots for tracking purposes. This system would allow for traceability and verification of deposited ballots, minimizing the risk of ballots going missing without detection. He suggested a RedBox-like setup to initiate a chain of custody transfer upon ballot submission, ensuring thorough verification and scanning at processing centers. (For those not familiar, RedBox was an outside standalone DVD rental, where you could rent a DVD and return it to any other RedBox. The boxes tracked checking out and returning the DVDs and you may have been able to look up online and see if the DVD you wanted was at specific RedBoxes.)

Christie also highlighted the feasibility and availability of existing solutions, emphasizing the practicality of implementing these measures to bolster ballot box security. However, he acknowledged the possibility of more primitive theft methods, such as stealing entire ballot boxes, akin to incidents involving ATM thefts.

Why we published this information

It’s important to understand that every system has security flaws, and no system is 100% secure. This information is being presented so that residents can make a reasonable assessment if they should use the election drop boxes or vote in person. We are in no way condoning or encouraging tampering with the drop boxes. We publish this information to ensure that the community is aware of the security risks inherent in utilizing ballot boxes as they currently exist. Further, we strive to inform local and state government agencies of the unnecessary security vulnerabilities the current ballot boxes create in our election system and that there are better ways to secure them.

Additionally, because the State Board of Elections would not disclose to us any further security measures, it is possible that additional security measures are in place inside the boxes. But Radio Free Hub City has no means of verifying those security measures, and if these measures utilize the same methods visible externally (such as simple locks and sticker seals), then they are likely as easily compromised. It is important to note that most security professionals consider “security through obscurity” a bad practice.

The biggest risk of course is not that election results could be directly manipulated by changing ballots, but that residents’ votes might not be properly counted if someone tampers with an election drop box. This in itself could be a concern, because election results are typically geographical – for example, Hagerstown residents are more likely to vote Democrat and Hancock residents are more likely to vote Republican – meaning that if the ballots for either of those locations were invalidated due to tampering (or just simply stolen and never returned), the election results would become skewed favoring the other party.

We’d like to encourage the county and state Board of Elections to seriously evaluate their current security measures, and take appropriate actions to improve them. Our free elections depend on it.

Story by Ken Buckler, President of Radio Free Hub City. No laws were violated while investigating or writing this story.