Best Practices for Staging EViDs

Prior to an election, your county should stage all EViD Stations you intend to use during the election. Doing so ensures EViD EViD Stations are properly functioning and that all components are working correctly, which reduces the risk of election day issues.

Important: It is critical to address any defective hardware as early as possible in the election cycle, so that repair or replacement parts can be provided in time for the election.

Staging can and should be performed well in advance of an election. It is recommended you stage your EViD Station up to 60 days prior to an election and complete any preparatory tasks. The staging process includes a check of both the software and hardware of the EViD Station. Staging involves the creation of a staging activator and thoroughly testing each EViD Station and its peripheral devices (including the printer and barcode scanner). The staging process also consists of a physical check of the device and its peripherals, looking for any damage and that hardware is in good working order. At this point, no voter data has been loaded on the device.

Polling locations do not need to be defined when you stage EViDs. It is strongly recommended staging occurs in a secure location and not the polling location - staging typically takes place in a warehouse.

Important: Once staging has commenced, EViD Stations must be physically secured until the end of the voting process. Do NOT stage your EViD Stations during an election.
Note: Your county will only need to complete the staging process once per election, unless EViD Station software updates are released after you have staged. EViD Station software releases are only released after 60 days before an election for critical issues, so this is unlikely. If you are planning to repeat the staging process, we recommend that you first contact VR Systems to discuss your best options.

Contact VR Systems if any EViD stations or peripheral hardware are failing.

Purpose of EViD Staging

It is critical to address any defective hardware as early as possible in the election cycle so that repair or replacement parts can be provided in time for an election. The staging process prepares the EViD Station for use by:

  • Verifying the hardware is in good working order
  • Installing any software updates from VR Systems
  • Maintaining the security of the system

The first step of staging an EViD Station is to create a staging activator. Staging activators contain an encrypted version of a dummy database for testing as well as any updates to the EViD Station software.

You can create as many staging activators as are needed based on the number of people you have applying the updates from the staging Activators to the EViD Stations. All staging activators are the same for a given election and can be used with any EViD Station.

See the EViD Staging Checklist in the User Community for a summarized activities list to use as an aid during staging.

Security Recommendation for Activators

Staging an EViD Station occurs before an election, at a secure location. Doing so ensures that the EViD Station and activators are not tampered with or accessed by unauthorized individuals. It's important to note that the EViD Station will not accept an activator that has been tampered with.

Once staging is successfully complete, all activators should be physically secured in the EViD case by elections personnel until ready for use. When your county is ready to transport the EViD Stations to the polling locations, encrypted EViD activators created behind the county firewall are ideally delivered to the polling site separate from the EViD; however, you may prefer to deliver the EViDs and activators together.

Security Recommendations for EViD Stations

A deployed EViD must be physically secured at all times prior to an election, especially after staging has occurred. It is recommended that:

  • Security tags are used to ensure that the EViD device was not accessed unexpectedly. A security tag can be placed on the outside of the EViD case.

  • Traceable security seals are used to ensure that an inserted USB drive is not tampered with. They can also be used to cover empty USB port to prevent unwanted USB drives from being inserted.

  • Voter data should not reside on the EViD until it is required you do so for an election.

  • Activators should be physically secured in the EViD case by elections personnel until ready for use.

Storage Recommendations

Long term storage of EViD hardware should adhere to the storage temperature and humidity levels shown in EViD Station Specs for your EViD model when storing for more than 4 days to better preserve the life of your battery. In addition:

  • Do not store batteries for long periods plugged into or attached to any power source.
  • Batteries may be stored in or outside of an EViD case.
  • Charge batteries before storing. The recommended charging time should not exceed 3 hours. Typically, this should charge the battery to between 80% and 100%.

Additional Resources

Refer to the following articles in our User Community for condensed and easy-to-follow references to keep your setup and management tasks on track:

  • Using EViD Throughout An Election Cycle

  • EViD Staging Checklist