Velvet REvolution--Virginia wireless voting machines can be hacked with a smart phone [View all]

http://elections.virginia.gov/webdocs/VotingEquipReport/2.pdf

According to a new report by the Virginia Department of Elections, its ubiquitous electronic WINVote machines are a threat to elections because they have wireless capabilities and no paper ballots. Incredibly, investigators were able to demonstrate that the machines could be accessed, and votes potentially manipulated, with a mere smartphone. The Department of Elections says their preliminary findings raise “grave concerns” about the security risks associated with the WINVote touchscreen machines. As part of the review, the Virginia Information Technology Agency (VITA) evaluated the system. VITA recommended discontinuing their use and replacing them with “a system less vulnerable to a local or remote cyberattack.”

We have, for more than a decade, been warning about these dangers, and even provided similar touch-screen systems to scientists at Princeton who were able to hack them in less than a minute's time, change votes and propagate a virus that could be passed from machine to machine with little likelihood of election officials or the public ever knowing it. We also provided an electronic voting machine to scientists at the Argonne National Laboratory, which found that many such systems can be hacked by remote control from a half mile away.

In the 2013 election in Virginia, Terry McAuliffe narrowly won the governorship after leading in the polls by seven points. The same year the Democratic Attorney General nominee reportedly won his race by fewer than 1,000 votes out of more than 2 million cast. Both elections saw widespread problems with voting machines across the state. By the way, the "WIN" in WINvote means "Wireless Information Network.”

We continue to insist on a hand-marked paper ballot for every vote cast. Our country’s failed experiment with unverifiable electronic voting systems must come to an end.