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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsElection Security a High Priority Until It Comes to Paying for New Voting Machines
by Kate Rabinowitz Feb. 20, 5 a.m. EST
When poll workers arrived at 6 a.m. to open the voting location in Allentown, New Jersey, for last Novembers gubernatorial election, they found that none of the boroughs four voting machines were working. Their replacements, which were delivered about four hours later, also failed. Voters had to cast their ballots on paper, which then were counted by hand.
Machine malfunctions are a regular feature of American elections. Even as worries over cybersecurity and election interference loom, many local jurisdictions depend on aging voting equipment based on frequently obsolete and sometimes insecure technology. And the counties and states that fund elections have dragged their heels on providing the money to buy new equipment.
A ProPublica analysis of voting machines found that over two-thirds of counties in America used machines for the 2016 election that are over a decade old. In most jurisdictions, the same equipment will be used in the 2018 election. In a recent nationwide survey by the Brennan Center for Justice, election officials in 33 states reported needing to replace their voting equipment by 2020. Officials complain the machines are difficult to maintain and susceptible to crashes and failure, problems that lead to long lines and other impediments in voting and, they fear, a sense among voters that the system itself is untrustworthy.
https://www.propublica.org/article/election-security-a-high-priority-until-it-comes-to-paying-for-new-voting-machines
bearsfootball516
(6,377 posts)I didn't have any problems with it, but it clearly looked dated, like something that would have first been used in the late 90s.
Frustratedlady
(16,254 posts)We will have to wait longer for results, but that won't hurt anyone but the candidates and MSM.
Do it!
Farmer-Rick
(10,212 posts)How many voters walked away after waiting hours for them to get their act together? And they didn't just suddenly break. They were probably broken when the last person voted on them or when the last several hundred people voted on them. Every country who have ever used these machines, have junked them.
The fewer people vote, the more RepubliCONS win. It's a racket started back when W was president.
We need to go back to paper ballots. They are harder to rig.
WhiteTara
(29,722 posts)I'm delighted. I talked to our county clerk today and she went through the process and it sounds effective for counting real votes.