Our major intelligence agencies have confirmed that the Russians have continued their efforts to interfere in our elections. What are we doing about it? Nothing. The reason? Leader McConnell. pic.twitter.com/xVBSELNPR4
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) July 23, 2019
For the third straight year, elite hackers from around the world gathered at the Voting Village at the Defcon security conference in Las Vegas to break down voting machines and analyze them for vulnerabilities. The mission of the Voting Village is to highlight vulnerabilities in election equipment used in the US and to serve as a resource for those who want to improve the state of election security. After spending a long weekend hacking into voting equipment they have released a report detailing vulnerabilities in machines still in use across the country.
The report found that voting machines used in dozens of state remain vulnerable to hacks and manipulations, warning that that without continued efforts to increase funding, upgrade technology, and adopt of voter-marked paper ballot systems, “we fear that the 2020 presidential elections will realize the worst fears only hinted at during the 2016 elections: insecure, attacked, and ultimately distrusted.”
When the Election Security Strategic Team met with Senator Durbin, he said the scenario that keeps him up at night would be a foreign attack on our elections to the point where we are unable to report the election results, throwing the decision-making process into turmoil.
While Senator “Moscow Mitch” McConnell has agreed to add $250 million for election security after having held up earlier legislation, Marian K. Schneider, president of Verified Voting, said McConnell’s support for the additional funding was better than nothing but she underscored how much more must be done. “This amount falls short of the $600 million that passed in the House, which is much closer to meeting the need for proper investment in election security,” she said.
Vicens, AJ “Researchers assembled over 100 voting machines. Hackers broke into every single one.” https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/09/defcon-2019-hacking-village/
Ewing, P. “McConnell, Decried As ‘Moscow Mitch,’ Approves Election Security Money” https://n.pr/2V4UGxr
