Company Behind Changes to 2024 Voting Machines Speaks out
Unconfirmed reports that voting machines were quietly altered before November's election
By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
Jun 11, 2025
What People Are Saying
Lulu Friesdat, the founder and executive director of SMART Legislation, told Newsweek: "We alerted the public to the software and firmware updates in our February 19th Substack…but not only did we flag the updates, we alerted the public that Pro V&V did not seem to be engaged in careful maintenance and monitoring of their website for extended periods of time. The fact that the company does not seem to be engaged in robust and vigilant security practices puts them at greater risk of being successfully attacked and having malware planted in their official updates."
SMART Elections' Substack post: "Why would we trust a company that has let its website disintegrate publicly for over six months, to test complex electronic equipment that we rely on to determine who controls the treasury, the military and the policy of our entire nation?
"We should not. We do not. We do not trust these voting machines. We do not trust the labs that test them. We demand that this facade of security be replaced with something meaningful: a trustworthy system that protects each vote and ensures that it is counted securely and accurately in a way that can be publicly verified."
What Happens Next
SMART Legislation's lawsuit is seeking a full, hand recount of ballots cast in the presidential and U.S. Senate races in Rockland County. A hearing has been scheduled for September 22."
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SMART Elections broke the story about the Pro V&V software and firmware updates in our February 19th 2025 Substack
- Voting Machine Testing Lab Website Disintegrates
- Pro V & V Website displays as beginner blog template
We continued our investigation and published all of the software and firmware updates that were approved for the 2024 election in our June 10th Substack.
- "Kamala Harris won the U.S election"
- MSN Headline & Article Mix Fact & Fiction
There has been a mixture of fact and fiction in the reporting on this issue. Our Substack investigation is the original source of information about the software/firmware updates to 2024 election technology and it remains the most accurate and reliable source of information on this topic.
We hope you will read these articles and subscribe to our Substack. Thank you.
2024 Election Results Under Scrutiny as Lawsuit Advances
SMART Legislation has filed lawsuit over voting discrepancies in Rockland County, New York.
By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
Jun 10, 2025
Lulu Friesdat, the founder and executive director of SMART Legislation, said in a statement: "There is clear evidence that the Senate results are incorrect, and there are statistical indications that the presidential results are highly unlikely.
"If the results are incorrect, it is a violation of the constitutional rights of each person who voted in the 2024 Rockland County general election. The best way to determine if the results are correct is to examine the paper ballots in a full public, transparent hand recount of all presidential and Senate ballots in Rockland County. We believe it's vitally important, especially in the current environment, to be absolutely confident about the results of the election."
"What's Next
The lawsuit is seeking a full, hand recount of ballots cast in the presidential and U.S. Senate races in Rockland County. A hearing has been scheduled for September 22."
CONSPIRACY? NO. CONCERN OVER VOTING.
Stuart A. Thompson | June 7, 2023
The New York Times
Headline from the front page of the Business section of The New York Times.
It continues on Page B3:
Seeing Concerns, Not Conspiracies, in Voting Machines
“Ms. Friesdat and good-government groups like Common Cause, a nationwide watchdog focused on government accountability, have campaigned against the machines for years, saying they are costly and could lengthen voter lines. They also warn that voters may not always consult the summary cards, causing mistakes to sneak through."
Full article is also available in our archive.
"For decades, Lulu Friesdat made election integrity her life’s work. Drawing support from activists and academics, she co-founded Smart Elections, a nonpartisan group that is opposed to some voting machines that Ms. Friesdat believes would increase wait times and cost a small fortune to purchase and maintain ..."
Photo credit above left and below: Cindy Schultz
Suffolk County ny Board of Elections oks expressvote xl
From Good Morning America to Saving American Democracy
By Joe Werkmeister
For Newsday
March 5, 2025
"Lulu Friesdat, co-founder of Smart Elections, a nonpartisan group that advocates for fair and accessible voting, urged legislators to table the resolution and “explore your other options.”
creating transpartisan teams to monitor the 2024 election
From Good Morning America to Saving American Democracy
By Hugh Grant
For NewsWebsite
February 9, 2024
"Their current mission is to create transpartisan teams to monitor polling locations and election results in a dozen hot-spot states in the 2024 election. They’re working with both large and small grassroots groups across the country to create the blueprint, attract the volunteers, provide training and support, and place the teams. They’ve done five pilot projects since 2020 to prepare. They believe this plan is the most effective way of uplifting confidence in election results and decreasing the chance of chaos and violence"
Florence TEDx speaker advocates for election transparency
Seth Taylor | April 29, 2023
The Post and Courier
"Elections expert Lulu Friesdat called for changes to South Carolina’s election system at a TEDx event in Florence, hoping to boost voters’ confidence."
Full article is also available in our archive.
"...we want to ask people to lean into the idea of participation, lean into the idea of neutral, lean into the idea of, you as an individual can make a difference."
New York BOE expected to vote on the use of highly controversial electronic voting machines
Rebecca C. Lewis & Shantel Destra | July 31, 2023
City & State New York
"Days before the Board of Elections votes on whether to authorize the use of new voting machines, good government groups, election advocates and security experts are urging commissioners not to approve the controversial touch screen machines. For years, watchdogs have argued that the machines are vulnerable to cyber attacks, leave no traditional paper trail of hand-marked ballots to perform post-election audits and are needlessly expensive with little proven benefit.
In a letter shared exclusively with City & State, over three dozen New York, national and out-of-state organizations from progressive advocates to good government groups, as well as nearly a dozen election security experts, signaled their opposition to the ExpressVoteXL voting machines."
Full article is also available in our archive.
New York State BOE certifies controversial digital voting system
Tim Balk | Aug 02, 2023
New York Daily News
"The New York State Board of Elections on Wednesday approved the use of a controversial touchscreen election voting system, allowing municipalities the option to use the ExpressVote XL machine ...
Ahead of the vote, critics warned that the little-used system could contribute to long lines and carry security risks during election contests. It was one of four systems up for a vote before the state Elections Board on Wednesday, but by far the most contentious.
'The ExpressVote XL is not safe, and ES&S cannot be trusted in their claims that it is safe,' Lulu Friesdat, cofounder of the advocacy group SMART Elections, said in [a] Wednesday letter to the state Elections Board.
Douglas Kellner, one of four commissioners at the state Elections Board, said the board had received some 3,000 messages in opposition to the system’s potential certification. Kellner, a Democrat, was the only commissioner to vote against certifying the system. 'I’m disappointed,' Kellner said by phone after the vote. 'It’s really now up to the county elections commissioners which of the four certified systems they will deploy.'”
Full article is also available in our archive.
New Yorkers could start voting on controversial touchscreen machines, as vote goes to board
Brigid Bergin | July 31, 2023
Gothamist
"The touchscreen machines face long-standing opposition from voting rights advocates, election security experts and even celebrity activists, who argue voters should be able to mark their own ballots, and object to the use of machine-readable barcodes to record a voter's selections."
"Friesdat pointed to other states that have used all-electronic voting systems in the past and found they didn’t work, which Reuters documented in a story about the evolving election machine landscape ahead of the 2022 midterms, using data from the nonpartisan nonprofit Verified Voting."
Full article is also available in our archive.
Lobbyists Killed Bill to Protect NY Elections, NAACP assist
Sam Mellins | June 16, 2022
New York Focus
"...the state Board of Elections may soon approve certain voting machines that experts say are particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks. A bill that would have banned those machines...died in the state Assembly after the elections committee chair refused to let it come to a vote."
This article features SMART Election’s partner project, SMART Legislation.
Full article is also available in our archive.
“State after state has moved from touch screen machines to hand-marked paper ballots,” said Lulu Friesdat, executive director of SMART Legislation... “New York is going backwards.”
Photo credit: Phoebe Sheehan/Times Union
Security fears - NY’s use of electronic voting machines
Rebecca C. Lewis | May 23, 2022
City & State New York
"In a letter shared with City & State, election security experts and good government groups laid out the various reasons why lawmakers should ban the hybrid voting machines...
SMART Elections...helped organize this letter, shared research with election officials about the risks associated with the hybrid machines."
Full article is also available in our archive.
“Time is running out,” the letter signed by some 70 election security and technology experts reads.
More FEATURED NEWS
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times
Brian M. Rosenthal, Dana Rubinstein, Andy Newman, Anne Barnard and Ed Shanahan | June 30, 2021
INSIDE THE TURMOIL AT AGENCY RUNNING RANKED-CHOICE VOTING
"The New York City Board of Elections, which has a history of mishaps, is now under intense fire for its error in releasing mayoral primary results."
“It’s just one fiasco after another, year after year,” said Lulu Friesdat ... “The fact that we haven’t made the effort to change that is shocking. ”
Full article is available in our archive.
Photo credit: Dave Sanders/The New York Times
Washington Post
The New York Times
The New York Times
Cory Doctorow | The Washington Post | February 3, 2021
VOTING MACHINES
... MOST ARE STILL TERRIBLE TECHNOLOGY
"...one voting machine company
cynically attacks its honest critics."
"SMART Elections is a collective of committed, individual activists — who translate academic research and relay it to state regulators..."
Full article is also available in our archive.
Photo credit: Brandon Camp/AP
Washington Monthly
The New York Times
Washington Monthly
Art Levine | Washington Monthly | September 23, 2020
DONALD TRUMP’S FAVORITE VOTING MACHINES
Ballot-marking devices in key swing states could give him the perfect excuse to contest the election
“There is no indication that talking about election security reduces voter participation,” says Lulu Friesdat, the president of Smart Elections, another election integrity group fighting BMDs. Friesdat cites a 2018 Harris poll showing that voters were, in fact, more likely to vote if they were worried about hacking.
Full article also available in our archive.
Photo credit: Elijah Nouvelage/Stringer
Lulu Friesdat Testifies About Brooklyn Pilot Project
NYS Senate Standing Committee on Elections Public Hearing: Voting Experiences and Issues
Lulu shared the experience of poll watchers with the Brooklyn Transparency Pilot project and how their efforts were met with hostility and obstruction by the Board of Elections.