Biometric technology deployed to authenticate Florida poll workers and volunteers

Oct 10, 2018 | Stephen Mayhew

Two County Election Boards in Florida have selected BIO-key’s ID Director for Windows software and its EcoID fingerprint readers to enhance security of the identification and authentication process for staff members and volunteers involved in managing the voting process.

Concerns about vote tampering, fraud and possible security breaches have forced Board of Elections managers to become focused on ways to securely identify and authenticate those granted access to voting machine data, systems and networks. Earlier this year, such concerns resulted in proposed legislation in the United States Congress which sought to fund grant programs to enhance state election security in upcoming elections.

“We are proud to protect the integrity of the election process for these counties,” commented Mike DePasquale, BIO-key chairman and CEO. “We believe BIO-key’s unique, cost effective blend of software and hardware biometric solutions represents a very attractive option for all jurisdictions seeking to enhance the security of their electoral process.

“This initial deployment in voting systems, builds off BIO-key’s more than a decade of experience providing biometric authentication solutions for high-level government applications. This voting systems application, focused on poll workers and volunteers, is similar to much larger deployments of our solutions in enterprises and government agencies across the US where it is essential to securely authenticate each individual prior to their being granted access to high value data.”

Last week the company announced that a regional bank serving customers throughout Long Island and New York City boroughs selected BIO-key to provide an integrated multifactor biometric sign-in solution for use by its employees accessing computer devices and connected applications.