What I need you to do is to give me your legal signature on that line by the X please.
The midterms are on
and they are all about who will control Congress come November as well as the
preliminary tests of the Republicans' ability to hold the White House in 2020
and what ballot type would we like today?
Ohio is a key swing state in both contests.
Most voters have issues that are important to them when they go to
the polls but it's less common for voters to think about the equipment they vote on.
Do you know the name of the voting machine that you voted on?
I don't
Do you ever think about it? Like, what type of machine you're voting on?
Truthfully, no.
Not really.
Voting machines around the country are reaching the end of their lifespan and
Ohio is no different.
There's 73 counties or so that mostly functioning with the
equipment that they bought around 2005-2006
That's old.
It's old as we like to say that technology came out before iPhone 1 did
so we're definitely in need of a refresh.
In addition to being old many of the machines in use in Ohio have serious security risks
In Licking County they’re voting on the AccuVote-TSX,
a machine that has been hacked on film,
on national television–
The computer virus went and switched the votes inside the computer.
and recently at the DEF CON hacking conference last July.
I think we would eventually be able to manipulate the votes.
Somebody with more experience could probably do this in about a week.
So we can reset the board and maybe reflash BIOS at that point.
Voting machine vendors and election officials point out the machines have all been certified,
however Ohio's entire fleet of voting machines was tested in a 2007
comprehensive security study called the Everest Report and the security came up
short. The report is blunt. It states
Although the report was released in 2007, not a single voting machine was
decertified afterward.
After the Everest Report came out I don't believe any
system was decertified in the state of Ohio. The systems that are in use now and
at least 73 or 74 counties are the same.
One other thing that I need you to do is
indicate for any preference.
Lisa, a voter from Franklin County voted in the May 8th primary on one of Ohio’s machines called the iVotronic.
The machine has multiple security flaws but the most devastating type of attack
could come by installing a virus in what's known as the PEB or personal
electronic ballot. A small box that controls the entire election.
Many poll workers handle the PEBs, not all are aware of their importance.
Do they have the results on them?
I'm not sure if they do or not.
Those yellow cards have the results from each machine.
Any poll worker, even a single voter could change the results of the
election by installing a virus on one of the PEBs or switching it out with one
that has malware on it.
Hackers at DEF CON showed me how easy this is to do.
Look, I mean how does espionage work.
You can take the hard method of looking at a device and trying to hack it
or you just pay somebody 50 bucks to kiss someone on the cheek,
grab the device, swap it out with yours, right? I mean these things are hard to find,
but it’s not impossible. It’s not to say you can’t find this on eBay. That’s how they got all this.
At the end of the election poll workers take the same PEB from
machine to machine downloading the results. This makes it quick and easy for
a virus to spread. The PEB with the results is then taken to county
headquarters. Once there it can install the virus on the central election
management system. Now that corrupted central system can program all the
voting machines in the county in subsequent elections.
It makes me nauseous.
ES&S, the manufacturer of the iVotronic was asked for
comment but did not respond.
Once on the machine, the virus is able to change votes for candidates as voters make their
selections. Election officials say the process is more secure because there is
a paper trail attached to the machine where voters can check that their
selections have been recorded accurately but studies have shown that most voters
do not check the paper trail.
Did you have a piece of paper at the end that
showed you who you had voted for?
No.
It shows it on screen. It's not an actual piece of paper.
And at one polling station the printed paper was actually
covered so voters could not see it even when they looked.
Were you able to see the paper at all?
No. It gives you an option to print it says at the end but nothing actually comes up.
Have you ever tried?
I did.
In either case it takes the virus
less than four seconds to change the vote on the printed paper as well.
According to verified voting, 17 states are using the AccuVote-TSX and
the iVotronic is in use in 16 including the swing states of Florida and Pennsylvania.
One of the reasons I'm passionate about elections is because
I've been to places where people don't have the right to vote.
State Senator Frank LaRose, the Republican candidate for Secretary of
State, has introduced a bill to fund new voting machines for Ohio that could
improve security depending on what type of machines the counties purchase
because voting equipment is expected to last for a decade or more
Ohio families and businesses could be impacted by this decision for years to come.
Professor Duncan Buell has spent over a decade researching election security.
I’m Duncan Buell. I teach computer science at the University of South Carolina.
Some voters were skeptical about paper,
I like the machine. To me things can happen to a piece of paper.
But most of the voters I spoke with expressed a
preference to mark the ballot themselves on paper.
Would you feel more comfortable if there was a paper ballot?
I would.
I would prefer to have a paper ballot
where I'm making marks on a ballot personally.
Just like we do if we're taking a test,
you know, you mark your own boxes.
Funding for new voting equipment has already
passed the Senate but still needs to get through the House. Currently there are no
requirements for voter mark paper ballots in the legislation and one
machine that is under consideration includes barcodes on its ballots
something security experts say could be a problem.
Rich Demello, an election security specialist at Georgia Institute of Technology
says an attacker could insert malicious code in barcode readers or
writers allowing votes to be counted for a different candidate than was intended.
I'm familiar with the barcode system. I think that the hand marked paper ballot
system is much preferable.
Ohio State Representative Kathleen Clyde is running
against LaRose for Secretary of State. The Secretary of State is the chief
election officer so whoever wins that office ultimately will be responsible
for improving Ohio's election security.
When it comes to what kind of voting
machines are available in Ohio certainly it's up to the vendor to
initiate the process for certification.
Like any private company vendors need to
make sales decisions based on profit. The touchscreen barcode machine that is
being marketed aggressively to Ohio and other states is estimated to be at least
three times as expensive as an optical scan voting system and election security
experts say it is less secure. With public pressure it's possible that an
amendment could be added to the proposed legislation requiring hand marked paper
ballots cybersecurity guidance and prohibiting the use of barcodes on ballots.
Senator LaRose was unable to meet with me for an interview but Clyde
has introduced her own legislation to make sure Ohio's elections are secure and accurate.
My legislation would require paper ballot system.
Her current proposal would permit barcodes but she says she's willing to take that under consideration.
I would be open to requiring a hand marked paper
ballot system in Ohio. I think that's the most secure system and as long as we're
able to accommodate voters with disabilities I think that would be the
thing for us to move to.