Skip to main content

Could our fall election by thrown off by hacked voting booths?

pennsylvania paper trail voting machine people in booth
bizoon / 123RF Stock Photo
Do you have faith in the mechanics of voting and vote counting? There’s nothing new with being concerned about election integrity. Tales of miscounted votes and deceased people voting early and often stretch back through our history. Questionable security of the physical mechanics of voting came to a head in 2000 when the winner of the U.S. presidential election hung literally on the corners of tiny pieces of paper called “chad” on punch-card ballots in the state of Florida.

If incompletely punched paper ballots were our only concern about this November’s election, at this point many might breathe easier. Hacking is the major focus today, particularly since U.S. intelligence agencies have apparently determined that Russians were responsible for hacking into the Democratic National Committee’s computer system, according to The Washington Post.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is still working on the DNC breach. WikiLeaks continues to publish secret information, news leaks, and any data it receives via known and anonymous sources. In the primary season leading up to the Democratic convention, for example, WikiLeaks released a searchable databases of Hillary Clinton’s private emails as well as hacked email and voicemail messages from the Democratic National Committee.

Breaking in, finding, and distributing data is one thing — as embarrassing and threatening as that may be — but data breaches may be just the visible tip of the iceberg. If teams of hackers in Russia, North Korea, and other countries are indeed heavily engaged in computer espionage with the U.S. as a target, the concern shifts to protecting a system vital to our nation’s identity: the voting booth.

One hurdle for centralized voting and data security protocols is that different states use different voting technologies. Decentralization makes federal oversight of the voting system hard if not impossible. According to a report in Politico in September 2015, heading into the 2016 election 43 states have electronic voting machines that are at least 10 years old. In 2014 the Virginia Board of Elections decertified voting machines in 30 counties due to security concerns.

Mechanical lever voting machines aren’t used anymore. According to Ballotpedia, which lists voting equipment by state, no state has used a mechanical lever in an election since 2010. States currently use optical scanning paper ballots, DRE (Direct Recording Electronic) systems with and without paper backup, ballot marking devices and systems (typically used by disabled voters), and punch card voting systems that are tallied manually or scanned by computers.

Hopefully, by November 8, 2016, all voting systems from the weakest to the most secure are protected so our votes will be counted correctly.

Editors' Recommendations

Bruce Brown
Digital Trends Contributing Editor Bruce Brown is a member of the Smart Homes and Commerce teams. Bruce uses smart devices…
The biggest Mac announcement at WWDC was about the old MacBook Air
15-inch MacBook Air shown at WWDC 2023.

Apple announced a ton of new Macs at WWDC 2023, including the 15-inch MacBook Air and a long-awaited update to the Mac Pro. However, the biggest announcement of the event flew under the radar, and it has to do with the older 13-inch MacBook Air.

Introducing the 15-inch model, Apple announced that it's slashing the price on the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air by $100, bringing it down to $1,100. It's still not as cheap as the M1 MacBook Air, which comes in at $1,000, but it's much closer.

Read more
MacBook Air 15-inch vs. MacBook Pro 14-inch
macbook air 15 inch vs pro 14 front view

Apple introduced a brand-new member to its MacBook lineup, a larger MacBook Air model with a 15.3-inch display that utilizes the same base M2 processor as the latest MacBook Air 13. The idea, clearly is to provide a larger laptop that retains the incredible thinness and lightness of the MacBook Air, but with more screen real estate to work with.

In this comparison, it's going up against the MacBook Pro 14, with a display that's about an inch smaller diagonally at 14.2 inches. The thing is, the MacBook Pro 14 is in a different class entirely when it comes to performance, with M2 Pro and M2 Max CPUs, as well as a truly stunning Mini-LED panel. Which one is right for you?
Specs

Read more
MacBook Air 15-inch vs. MacBook Air 13-inch
Apple MacBook Air 15 front view showing display.

Apple revamped the MacBook Air with the MacBook Air 13 M2 model, replacing the iconic tapered chassis design with one that more closely mimics the latest MacBook Pros. But it kept true to the "Air" moncker by making the new model the thinnest 13-inch laptop you can buy and keeping it incredibly light.

Now, the MacBook lineup has a new member. The MacBook Air 15 uses the same M2 processor as its smaller sibling and the same IPS Liquid Retina display technology, but the new panel is larger while the chassis remains almost as thin. Given likely equal performance and display quality, it all comes down to size. Do you want a smaller laptop that's easier to carry around or the extra screen real estate?
Specs

Read more