votingmachines.procon.orgElectronic Voting Machines Pros and Cons

More IssuesFAQs Teachers’ Corner Voting Machines Are Electronic Voting Machines the Best Method for Voting? Last updated on: 12/15/2022 | Author: ProCon.org History of Voting Machines The earliest forms of voting lication is not secure. A passive network adversary can discover a user’s vote, and an active one can disrupt transmission in response. An attacker that controls a user’s device also controls their vote, easily brushing aside the app’s built-in countermeasures. And our analysis of the protocol shows that one who controls the server likely has full power to observe, alter, and add votes as they please.” [ 28 ] Not only are the voting platforms insecure and vulnerable to attack, but the devices used to vote are as well. Internet voting requires individuals to bring your own device.” With millions of individual computers, tablets, and phones come innumerable security risks as each device may carry malware, have been hacked, or be otherwise compromised. An attack on a single device could endanger the entire election system. [ 29 ] Internet voting is a nonstarter” according to Aviel Rubin, Technical Director of the Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute. Internet voting requires trusting the software developers who create the system, trusting the network providers, trusting the network protocols, and trusting the end systems in people’s homes. Over the last decade, we have seen security incidents on the Internet increase exponentially. As attackers grow in sophistication, the systems they are exploiting are growing in complexity. It is the perfect storm for mayhem.” [ 30 ] Read More Con 1 Current voting machines are outdated, and their software is vulnerable to domestic and foreign attacks. According to a Brennan Center for Justice Mar. 1, 2022 report, Like any computerized system, voting machines age into obsolescence. For electronic voting machines purchased since 2000, experts agree that the expected lifespan for the core components is between 10 and 20 years. For most systems, however, it is probably closer to 10 than 20…. Today, 24 states, home to over 41 million registered voters, use machines first fielded more than a decade ago as their principal voting equipment. While jurisdictions in many states have replaced older voting machines in the last eight years, the need to replace equipment as it ages continues.” [ 31 ] Voters’ confidence in the security, accuracy, and fairness of voting machines is low. A 2018 national survey found about 80% of Americans believed the current voting system may be vulnerable to hackers.” [ 32 ] That feeling is supported by experts. [F]rom a security perspective, old software is riskier, because new methods of attack are constantly being developed, and older software is likely to be vulnerable,” explained Jeremy Epstein, Lead Program Office of the Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program for the National Science Foundation. [ 31 ] Experts have long warned that computers are inherently vulnerable” to hacking, making the use of digital technology in elections especially dangerous. Efforts to secure digital elections systems are often piecemeal and not uniformly implemented, making a patchwork of security efforts that create multiple vulnerabilities that are easily taken advantage of by domestic and foreign forces. [ 33 ] These vulnerabilities, for the most part, are not ones that could be easily exploited by someone who walks in off the street, but they are things that we should worry could be exploited by sophisticated attackers, such as hostile nation states, or by election insiders, and they would carry very serious consequences,” according J. Alex Halderman, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Director of the Center for Computer Security and Society at the University of Michigan. [ 33 ] The vulnerabilities could allow for a malicious virus to spread throughout a jurisdiction’s voting machines, which could be done by a hacker with physical access, via the internet, by USB fobs used by election workers, or by the cards used by technicians who service the machines. The virus could disable the system or allow a hacker to take control of the machine(s). [ 33 ] Halderman said attackers could then mark ballots inconsistently with voters’ intent, alter recorded votes or even identify voters’ secret ballots.” [ 33 ] Read More Con 2 Current voting machines are mechanically obsolete and extraordinarily expensive to repair or replace. As of Mar. 1, 2022, voting machines used by 23 states are no longer manufactured—they are especially vulnerable to breakdowns, errors, and fraud. These problems not only create long waits at polling places but can also shake the public’s confidence in elections in general. Those states are home to 21 million registered voters. [ 31 ] Because the machines are no longer manufactured, the concern becomes whether parts can be found to repair them. As Douglas Jones, retired University of Iowa computer science professor, explains, The trouble is, the laptop computer marketplace from which many of the components for these machines came is predicated on the idea that people will throw away their old laptops fairly frequently. What you end up doing is cannibalizing parts from working equipment to keep other equipment working.” [ 19 ] Further, the older voting machines do not have to meet the same accessibility and security regulations as newer machines. This obsolescence also creates voting problems for people with disabilities and whose first language is not English among the approximately 40 million voters who live in the 26 states and two territories in which assistive voting equipment, such as ballot marking devices (BMDs), are no longer manufactured. [ 19 ] [ 31 ] The Elections Infrastructure Initiative estimated in Dec. 2021 that replacing antiquated” voting machines would cost $1.8 billion. That cost does not include the costs of updating and bolstering administration and operation, registration systems costs, audit systems, or cybersecurity, which would cost an additional $51.5 billion. [ 34 ] Why, then, spend over 53.3 billion to patch a failing system when we could create a new system without aging, vulnerable machines? Read More Con 3 Voting machines should be replaced with Internet voting. We conduct most of our lives online. From banking to medical records, some of our most sensitive, private information is stored on and accessed via the Internet. This fact was reinforced during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the dramatic rise of online jobs, services, and classes. We have crossed the Rubicon in terms of using the Internet for social and personal needs and tasks. In 2022, 91.8% of Americans had Internet access, a percentage that is expected to grow to 95% by 2027. 99% of Americans over 18 years old used the Internet in 2021, accounting for nearly all voting-aged Americans. [ 35 ] [ 36 ] Moreover, Internet usage is largely an equal-opportunity tool, cutting fairly across racial demographics: 95% of Hispanic people, 93% of white people, and 91% of Black people used the Internet in 2021. The rates are similarly equal and high when urbanity is considered: 95% of urban city dwellers, 94% of suburban residents, and 90% of rural inhabitants use the Internet. [ 37 ] [ 38 ] Internet use only drops below 90% when income is considered: 87% of people who make less than $30,000 a year use the Internet. [ 39 ] Because the online world is already accessible to the vast majority of voters, Internet voting could increase voter turnout and overcome obstacles such as transportation to polling places or taking time off work to vote. [ 40 ] Voting online is also as secure as existing voting machine software, Internet banking, and medical records. The Internet already boasts incredibly accurate tracking mechanisms including click and open rates as well as privacy protocols. [ 40 ] In fact, online voting is already happening in US elections. Seven US states allow...