BIO-key Biometric MFA to Secure West Coast State Voter Registration

Biometric authentication and security solutions provider BIO-key International, Inc. has announced that it has been selected by a West Coast State Election Office to incorporate its authentication solution to help allow secure statewide access to the voter registration database.

“BIO-key is emerging as a preferred multifactor authentication solution provider for election offices,” stated Mike DePasquale, Chairman & CEO, BIO-key. “Every election office is concerned about security and maintaining the integrity of our election process,” he added.

Using its WEB-key biometric software engine in concert with its PIV-Pro FIPS compliant fingerprint scanners, BIO-key will be able to fulfill the state’s multi-factor authentication (MFA) requirements. The requirement for MFA comes from the state’s desire to ensure enhanced security for the upcoming elections, as local election officers and volunteers use a Citrix environment to gain access to the centralized voter registration system.

“This state and county election board leaders have made a clear statement that election security is top priority, and by utilizing biometric authentication they are able to tie access to the individual, not a credential,” said DePasquale.

The decision to go with BIO-key comes after state officials are said to have evaluated a number of different MFA options available to them, ultimately deciding to proceed with a biometric-based solution.

“I applaud the way that the state’s IT team collaborated with our developers to create a customized solution to meet their security requirements,” commented DePasquale. “Moving ahead, we look forward to working with other states and counties to help them raise the bar on election security.”

The contract with the yet-to-be-identified state comes following a similar deployment of BIO-key’s solution in Florida in 2018 and 2019, with other states reportedly also looking at using its services. The tech will be rolled out to state and county offices in time for the 2020 election.

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June 24, 2020 – by Tony Bitzionis