Voting Systems Still Vulnerable 6 Months Before Election Day - Check YOUR State's Security

What’s the story?

• The 2018 midterms elections are fast approaching, but experts warn the voting infrastructure remains extremely vulnerable.
• “Computers are basically insecure," cybersecurity expert Bruce Schneier told a crowd of election directors and secretaries of state at a conference last month. "Voting systems are not magical in any way. They are computers."
• Schneier is not alone in his concerns. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), a member of the Senate intelligence committee looking into Russia’s hacking of the 2016 election, warned election officials:

"I cannot emphasize enough the vulnerability," Rubio said, according to the Tampa Bay Times. "I don't think [election officials] fully understand the nature of the threat."

How Secure is Your Vote?

Wondering about the type of voting machine you’ll be using?

Head to Verified Voting and input your county to find out.

What’s the concern?

• While no vote-collection system is connected to the internet - which protects them somewhat from hacking interference - many voter registration systems and records are internet connected. This leaves databases and back-ups vulnerable to outside interference.

What is Schneier's solution?

• In an essay in The Guardian titled “American elections are too easy to hack. We must take action now”, Schneier wrote:

“The only way to reliably protect elections from both malice and accident is to use something that is not hackable or unreliable at scale; the best way to do that is to back up as much of the system as possible with paper.”

• The cryptographer explained that we vote on computerized machines, store registration lists in computer databases, and tabulate voting results on computers. While he admits there are “a lot of good reasons” for this, a side effect is that “the computers we use in the voting process are vulnerable at every level."

What are states doing to protect election integrity?

Here are some of the efforts underway - or being called for by state officials - to protect election integrity:

• Many states are returning to the use of paper ballots, either exclusively or in concert with electronic tallying systems. Only five states have digital-only systems.
• States are creating formal systems to share security information with each other to prevent future security breaches.
• State elections officials and cybersecurity experts are pressing Congress to finally appropriate all the federal funds approved in 2002 for election security.
• State officials and cybersecurity experts are also calling for further federal legislation that would prompt sweeping changes to strengthen election security.

What do you think?

Do you think states are doing enough to protect the integrity of our election systems? Do you think there is more the federal government could do to support their efforts? Do you feel confident in your state’s election systems heading into the 2018 midterms? Hit Take Action and tell your reps, then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

Related Reading

Primary Season Begins — Are You Ready?

States Make Moves To Protect Election Security Before Midterms

Voting Security & Russian Interference

(Photo Credit: mannphoto / iStock)