More and more states are attempting to secure the integrity of the electoral process by requiring paper-backed voting machines.  The Brennan Center For Justice at the New York University of Law lays out an extremely detailed assessment on the risks of voting machines and how to mitigate them. The report stresses that most machines have been updated and don’t connect to the Internet, however, there are still some older, vulnerable systems still in use. The following excerpt from the report delineates improvements made to safeguard our systems:

Today, 47 of 50 states rely on the Election Assistance Commission’s (EAC) federal certification process when purchasing voting machines. This process includes much more rigorous security testing than previously existed.

• While recent hacks deserve our attention, the overwhelming majority of voting is not done over the internet.
• In recent years, voting machines that could be accessed remotely have been taken out of service, making widespread, remote attacks much more difficult.
• Many jurisdictions have replaced their paperless machines with systems that scan paper ballots filled out by voters, or produce a paper trail that can be reviewed by the voter.
• This November, at least 80 percent of registered voters will make selections on a paper ballot, or vote on an electronic machine that produces a paper trail.

While this is good news, it’s important to note that a majority of US states use systems that are more than a decade old. This results in hardware and software failures, security risks, and a lack of certification.

A collateral issue in this loose and non-standard approach to voting is the degree of confidence constituents have in the process. Even a hint of impropriety or vulnerability in these systems results in questioning the legitimacy of the entire process.  It could result in legislative paralysis as administrations are forced to prove their legitimacy in order to govern.

As always the solutions aren’t easy. In the short term, voters should vote early and report voting irregularities by calling call 866-OURVOTE. Officials should ensure proper physical security and access, through pre-vote testing, and a method to validate the process. In the long term, Congress needs to enact legislation to fund and standardize the process. Machines should be refreshed periodically and certified to standards set by independent security experts.

Thankfully, some lawmakers are already aware of the issues and attempting solutions. Senators Martin Heinrich and Susan Collins argue in Wired magazine (Wired, Our Democracy Depends On Secure Elections, Dec 2017) that, although there is no evidence that voting machines were breached, Voter Registration records were accessed. Together they’ve introduced “The Securing America’s Voting Equipment (SAVE) Act” that aims to increase security for our election process across the country.  While the bill was introduced in October 2017 there has been no progress to enacting it into law.

Disaffected voters may decide that the entire system is illegitimate and refuse to participate in the process going forward. Legislation is needed to assure the electorate that their votes matter.

The following is the link to The Brennan Center For Justice at the New York University of Law Fact Sheet:

https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/analysis/Fact_Sheet_Voting_System_Security.pdf

The following is a link to the SAVE act:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/2035/text