More County Election Boards Look to Biometric Security, Care of BIO-key

Biometrics News – Fingerprint Readers

“It is vital for the country to maintain the integrity of our election process, which has become increasingly reliant on computers and the Internet, despite the inherent cyber risks.” – Mike DePasquale, CEO, BIO-key

Two additional County Election Boards in Florida have opted to use BIO-key‘s biometric technology to help secure the electoral process. The news comes after Brevard County and Collier County made the same decision last autumn.

BIO-key has not disclosed which counties are among its newest clients, but indicated in a statement that they will use its biometric technology to authenticate staff and volunteers for upcoming regional elections this year, and for the presidential election in 2020. BIO-key suggested that both counties will use its ID Director for Windows software, which is compatible with Microsoft’s Active Directory; and it said that some election boards have opted to also use its PIV-Pro fingerprint scanner and its EcoID fingerprint scanner.

The company also suggested that government funding is playing a role in the deployments, noting that they’re being supported by funds made available for election security such as the Help America Vote Act Election Security Fund and the more recent Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill.

Commenting on the additional deployments, BIO-key CEO Mike DePasquale gestured to his company’s experience in the government sector more broadly. “Our technology has consistently met or exceeded the needs and expectations of customers in global law enforcement, the U.S. Federal government and foreign national government agencies,” he said, adding later, “It is vital for the country to maintain the integrity of our election process, which has become increasingly reliant on computers and the Internet, despite the inherent cyber risks.”

DePasquale also noted that BIO-key anticipates “further growth in this area”, suggesting that elections security could become an increasingly important business line as more government agencies look to biometric technologies to help secure the electoral process.

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September 30, 2019 – by Alex Perala