NYU Study: America's Voting Machines Are Rapidly Aging Out

Presto Vivace passes on a link to a report at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU's law school which says that many of the vote-counting machines set to be used in the 2016 U.S. general election will be past their prime by the time of the election, if not long before. From the report: Technology has changed dramatically in the last decade, but America's voting machines are rapidly aging out. In 2016, for example, 43 states will use electronic voting machines that are at least 10 years old, perilously close to the end of most systems' expected lifespan. Old voting equipment increases the risk of failures and crashes — which can lead to long lines and lost votes on Election Day — and problems only get worse the longer we wait.

Comments

As if it matters

[allquixotic]

The elections are rigged, anyway. The preponderance of the masses are too busy, sick, or lazy (or all of the above) to vote, and those who do are told who to vote for by the mass media. Even if an unprecedentedly huge 5% of the population were actually informed on the issues and voted for a candidate who'd actually make things better (or die trying), it wouldn't make enough of a difference in the election to tip the scales.

We don't like to admit it because we think we're "freer" than other countries that run faux democracies like Russia and India, but in reality, we're no freer than they are, and our elections are just as rigged, if not moreso.

In Canada...

[Anonymous Coward]

When we arrive to vote there are at least three volunteers there to manage everything. They first validate our voter registration card sent to us in the mail or government issued ID against a list of registered voters for that polling station. Next they cross us off the list and hand us a paper ballot and some other piece of paper with our name and other information on it.

We then go to a private booth which has pens and instructions that clearly show how to mark the ballot and how not to mark it. When finished we return to the desk of volunteers and clearly show them that we are placing only one ballot in the box. They control access to the slot. Finally we give them the other piece of paper that they gave us earlier and they pass it through a machine that looks like a shredder but it has digital counters on it. I guess it is counting the number of votes and might even be recording who voted. I'm not sure about the who part or if that information is shared across all polling stations to ensure you only vote once. Regardless, it is separate from the paper ballot. The machine looks like it could last decades because it's not a Windows computer with a spinning disk etc.

At the end of the night the three volunteers count the ballots and report the results. We have three major political parties in Canada and I wonder if the volunteers represent each of the parties to ensure no cheating. I'll ask at our next election in October.

I know why

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

I worked designing ballot reading machines back in the late 80's. I enjoyed the work and we made some great equipment. Then the "hanging chad" incident came along and the Federal Elections Commission issued strict certification standards for ballot counting equipment. Once my company certified the machines that they sold, they ended all R&D and new product development. It was not possible to make incremental improvements without a massive retest and recertification, and the company (correctly) surmised that the certification costs would limit the playing field to the existing players. So, no incentive to build better machines.

Re:Vote by Mail

[Nkwe]

One of the interesting things I've noticed is when I raise the subject with friends, the ones who are opposed almost always grew up east of the Mississippi, and are terrified that large-scale fraud will occur. There's a PhD dissertation for a sociologist or political scientist in there somewhere.

And what makes you think they are wrong?

You honestly trust the voting system as it stands? Really?

I do. Here in Oregon, the vote by mail system has reasonable checks and balances. You receive your ballot, which is a "fill in the bubble" optical scan form, in the mail. You mark your ballot and place it in a "secrecy envelope" and then inside a different "mailing envelope" that contains your voter ID. You sign the mailing envelope. You mail your ballot back, or hand deliver it to a near by drop off station. Upon receipt, one election official hand verifies your signature against the one on file when you registered to vote and adds you to the list of people that have voted. If a signature doesn't match or there is a duplicate vote, someone investigates and contacts the voter. Next the inner "secrecy envelope" is placed in a box of votes to be counted. A different set of election officials opens the secrecy envelopes and feeds the ballots into the optical scanning machine. Members of the public are welcome to personally observe both processes. If a recount is necessary the forms can be re-scanned or manually counted.

Re:Mobile banking?

[Coren22]

Except that non citizens are prevented by the law from voting. Illegals cannot legally vote, no racism there, they choose not to become citizens.