School Officials Say No Illegal Data Collection Used in Voting

Commack School District posted an announcement on its website Tuesday, stating that the district has not been using an illegal application on its voter software that is capable of influencing voter turnout in budget elections.   

Concerns rose when recent reports questioned the use of the Bold Election Management System, which is used by more than 100 school districts in New York, including Commack.

"As reported in the media, many school districts on Long Island utilize the Bold Software System. The Commack School District's version (1.05) is used strictly for legally permissible, post-election reports (generated approximately 30 days after the election/budget vote)," the statement on the district's website reads.

A feature in the data system allows school districts to not only see how many people voted, but who the voters were in real time. If the odds were not in the favor of the school district, it would give an opportunity for school officials to make the phone calls they needed to get certain people down to cast their vote. 

"If your budget votes are too close to call, EMS can provide the edge you need," reads the description of the application.

The software was purchased by each district through the Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). Attorneys for the Eastern Suffolk BOCES announced that they have asked the Bold Systems to remove the advertisement and deactivate the application that could violate state law. 

In a letter to the school district, Jeanne Weber, the Eastern Suffolk BOCES Regional Information Center Director, said that Commack schools never had the application to utilize.

The Commack School budget vote will take place May 21.