Voter Registration Applications are processed through the Department of State to verify the applicant meets eligibility requirements.
Our voter registration database is updated routinely and any change to a voter’s record leaves an audit trail that is recorded and backed-up daily.
We use a variety of reports and resources including reports from the Florida Department of Vital Statistics and the USPS to ensure we have updated and accurate voter data.
The Department of State’s Online Voter Registration (OVR) website includes security measures to help ensure the identity of the voter is accurate and protects a voter’s personal information. OVR requires a Florida Driver License or state ID card number and issue date and the last four digits of the applicant’s Social Security Number.
In order to vote in Collier County, voters must be registered to vote with a residential address in Collier.
Florida is a paper ballot state, leaving a paper trail of every vote cast.
Once a voter checks in at a polling location, during early voting or on Election Day, or their Vote-by-Mail ballot is returned to our office, their voter record is updated and is flagged as “already voted” which prevents a voter from voting twice in the same election.
Our state-certified voting equipment is stored in our secure Operations Center that is only accessible by staff and is under 24-hour video surveillance.
Voting equipment is meticulously tested prior to each election with a public logic and accuracy test to verify that the equipment examines, counts and records votes correctly.
Security seals are applied to all voting equipment and are documented through a rigorous chain of custody prior to deployment.
Elections are created and the results are tabulated on a stand-alone system in our Tabulation Center that is not connected to the internet.
A public manual audit is conducted after each election where ballots are counted by hand in randomly selected precincts and races to ensure the machine count is equivalent to the hand-counted results.
We have partnered with several agencies to ensure our network is secure including the Collier County Board of County Commissioners, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, and the Center for Internet Security.
We have purchased and installed an ALBERT Sensor which is a network security monitoring system that helps identify malicious activity.
We conduct trainings with staff to help increase our knowledge of network security and submit to best practices to ensure our personal computers and other technology devices are secure.
Communication channels including our website and social media accounts serve as an important function in getting election and voting information out to the public. The measures we have taken to secure these platforms include mandatory two-factor authentication, which helps prevent malicious actors from gaining access to our accounts, and verification badges which help identify suspicious activity that can be more easily reported.
Our website domain transitioned to www.CollierVotes.gov in 2021. Website domains ending in “.gov” are reserved for U.S.-based government agencies and make it harder for malicious actors to attempt to impersonate governments.
Our accounts for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are identified as “verified” by each platform, which further conveys that our social media channels are THE trusted resources to obtain election and voting information.