American voters in 2016 were told repeatedly throughout the election cycle that voting machines are unhackable. It was discovered during the Wisconsin recount that those assurances may
have been misguided.
Security investigators from RecountNow.org found the latest Election Systems and Software (ES&S) DS200 optical scanners, the machines that scan and count
ballots, have cellular capabilities and are therefore not as secure as once thought.
“Cellular connectivity at the precinct level is bad,” stated Jim March-Simpson, one
of the IT specialists that uncovered the vulnerability. “The precinct-level scanners can open an Internet channel to the central vote tabulator.”
“That is the big
disaster,” added March-Simpson, “and cannot be tolerated in a U.S. election.”
There is no evidence that votes were actually changed in this case, or that all DS200s
have this vulnerability. Only 25 states use the new model, and it is unclear whether other older models have similar capabilities.
Another cause for concern is that FBI director
James Comey told Congress, before November 8, that voting machines are virtually impossible to hack, due to their lack of Internet connectivity. This means that either the FBI was unaware of the
implications of the cellular capabilities or no government agency had actually undertaken a full audit of the new voting machines.
"If the central vote tabulator does not have the
best possible security, then even a good hacker with a normal PC can get in," March-Simpson stated.
As a precaution, back at the end of October, 46 states had asked the DHS for help securing their voting machines. To date,
no one has claimed our votes were tampered with, but the confusion surrounding the security of our voting machines raises key questions about federal procedure and cyber security.
Just yesterday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest was bombarded with questions about why the federal government took so long to announce the perpetrators of the DNC hacks. Whether
they waited for political reasons or others, the reporters inferred that the delay shined a negative light on our country’s forensic capabilities in cyberspace.
The White House
and government agencies constantly reiterate we have the most powerful and far-reaching cyber capabilities worldwide. While that may be true, it does not always feel like it.