T Wilson-Brown
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear T Wilson-Brown
Decision notice on your access application
I refer to your access application made under the Freedom of Information Act 2016 (FOI
Act), received 24 February 2021. This application requested access to:
“access to documents held by the Commission, including correspondence, relating to the
QR codes used in the 2020 election.
I apply for access to documents containing information about:
Audits of QR codes issued for voting and administrative actions
Missing or extra QR codes
Inconsistencies in QR code production, handling, or destruction
Reviews or changes to the audit method or process
The algorithm used to create voter QR code data
I also apply for documents containing totals and statistics about the number of QR codes:
Printed
Issued to voters or polling officials
Scanned
Recovered from voters or pol ing officials
Destroyed
And how many times each QR code was scanned.
To be clear, I am seeking summary statistics and individual QR code exception reports.
You can exclude documents that only consist of detailed information about large numbers
of typical QR codes.
Just a quick amendment:
I would also like documents containing information about:
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The algorithm used to generate the admin QR codes which authenticate pol ing
officials
Audits and summary statistics for the QR codes used during user acceptance testing,
since they are identical to the QR codes used during the election.
As a general clarification, I am seeking documents related to the fol owing Elections ACT
processes:
‘Election officials in electronic pol ing places account for e-voting cards in much the same
way as they do for paper bal ots. They provide records of e-voting cards issued which are
compared with the number of electronic votes cast.
Reports of errors, votes not concluded as described on page 14 of the eVACS Operational
Concept Description
The various checks and reconciliations described on page 41 of the HAZOP Study eVACS a
election system, which contain information about discrepancies between the number of e-
voting cards issued, and the number of votes recorded.
I am also seeking documents related to similar admin QR code tracking processes that
Elections ACT carries out to ensure election security. And I am seeking other documents
related to QR Code security, as specified in my request.”
Authority
I am an officer authorised by the ACT Electoral Commissioner to make decisions about
access to public sector information, in accordance with section 18 of the FOI Act.
Decision
I have identified twelve documents containing information within the scope of your access
application. These are outlined in the attached Schedule of documents.
I have decided to:
grant part access to five documents; and
grant ful access to the remaining seven documents.
For the reasons outlined in the attached Reasons for decision, I have redacted some of
the information within the part-access documents. This is because the information is
either out-of-scope for the access application or contrary to the public interest
information.
Disclosure of information
The released documents are attached.
Disclosure log
Please note that section 28 of the FOI Act requires publication of access applications and
any information subsequently released on our disclosure log
www.elections.act.gov.au/about_us/freedom_of_information
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This means that if access to the information is granted, it wil also be made available to
everyone on our website, unless the access application is an application for your personal,
business, commercial, financial or professional information.
Review rights
You may apply to the ACT Ombudsman to review my decision under section 73 of the FOI
Act. An application for review must be made within 20 days of receipt of this decision
notice.
You may submit a request for review of my decision to the ACT Ombudsman by writing in
one of the fol owing ways:
Email (preferred):
xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Post: The ACT Ombudsman GPO Box 442 CANBERRA ACT 2601
More information about ACT Ombudsman review is available on the ACT Ombudsman
website at:
www.ombudsman.act.gov.au/improving-the-act/freedom-of-information
Yours sincerely
Ro Spence
Deputy Electoral Commissioner
19 April 2021
Document Outline
