Recently, the American public learned that hackers linked to Russia targeted election voting systems in all 50 states.
The information came out of a Senate Intelligence Committee report, which also found “Russian cyber actors were in a position to delete or change voter data.”
There is no evidence that actual votes were changed, officials said, an assurance we have been given with every new revelation of Russian hacks into our voting process.
But we are beginning to wonder how comfortable Americans remain in these assertions.
One thing this new information makes crystal clear: Despite it being two-and-a-half years since the November 2016 election, we do not yet have a handle on the size, scope and depth of the Russian cyber-attacks that sought to influence the results.
What we do know however, is that the most secure way to vote is also one of the oldest — paper ballots. That makes the current confusion at the N.C. State Board of Elections all the more frustrating. We could all be on paper ballots by now.
Instead, we are in the summer of 2019 with a presidential election and congressional races set for next year, a Census year, and a wide swath of North Carolina is not even sure in what form their residents will cast their ballots. These include two of the state’s largest counties, Guilford and Mecklenburg. Both are using electronic voting machines set to be declared invalid by the state by year’s end.
The five-member state elections board, with three Democrats and two Republicans, has been considering this week whether to approve three voting-machine vendors. By a 3-2 vote Monday that was not along party lines, the board voted to delay certifying the machines. The machines all produce paper ballots; one by company ES&S also incorporates a touch screen, which concerns many voting-rights activists. That machine’s paper ballots would also render peoples votes in bar code, not “human-readable” language, which also worries activists.
They cheered the board’s decision Monday. But by Tuesday, it seemed the board had changed its mind. It scheduled a vote for Thursday that would reverse its earlier decision and would set an up-or-down vote on the three vendors. Part of the reason for the reversal is that the state finds itself pressed for time, with the decision to actually purchase the machines still up to individual counties. These counties, mind you, also have municipal elections to run in the fall.
Unfortunately there may be further unplanned, delay: The elections chairman, Democrat Bob Cordle, resigned late Tuesday after coming under criticism for an offensive joke he made in a room full of elections officials who had convened for a state conference Monday.
The resignation cast doubt on what happens next.
But we should not even be here. We could have been ahead of the game.
Back in 2013, the N.C. General Assembly passed a law requiring paper ballot voting. The law said that by Jan. 1, 2018, the state would not certify machines that did not produce a paper ballot, including the DRE (direct-record-electronic) machines used in about 20 counties. But as is often the case with unfunded mandates, not much got done because many of the counties could not afford wholesale replacement of their voting machines.
State lawmakers kicked the stone down the road a little longer, giving counties nearly a year-long extension. There is even a bill making the rounds that would grant another extension, which would be both inexcusable and irresponsible.
Elections officials’ time would be better spent holding off on approving vendors, and as soon as practicable approving machines that use only paper ballots, reserving touch-screen/paper ballot hybrids for voters with disabilities who request them.
It is 100-percent certain that the Russians will again try to hack their way into our democracy, and that’s not to mention other potential bad actors like Chinese hackers or extremist groups.
We cannot control what foreign entities do. But we can secure the means by which our residents vote.
— The Fayetteville Observer