Following the 2016 Presidential Election, voting security became a hot topic within the United States. Although many millennials are aware of the scandal that occurred during that election,  many young voters are still relatively unaware of the lack of voting security, even within their own state. Bridget Walsh, 18, a student at The College of New Jersey said, “I am aware of the interference in the 2016 election, but I did not think anyone would really tamper with voting within the states.” Many people do not know that the ex-chief investigator of Mercer County, Andrea Palmucci-McGillicuddy, was charged with voter fraud after it was discovered that she had voted in New Jersey for at least six years while residing in Pennsylvania. When asked about this, Walsh stated, “No, I did not know about that, but I am surprised that it did not come up sooner seeing as she was in such a position of power. The individuals that were interviewed were all residents of New Jersey. However, none of them knew that New Jersey ranked among the top five most insecure states when it comes to voting security. Tim McSharry, 19, also a TCNJ student, stated, “I did not know that and that statistic concerns me greatly because I only recently gained the right to vote, but now I am not sure if my vote was potentially tampered with.” There is an additional risk regarding voting security due to the fact that in various counties across the United States (including the entirety of New Jersey) the voting machines do not have paper backups. Regardless of this, the system of using electronic ballots will always come with the risk of the possibility of being hacked. After being told all of this information, McSharry said, “I was not aware of all these scandals and issues with voting, so now I am unsure if my vote is secure and I am skeptical about it.” When asked about how voting can be made more secure, Walsh said, “Well, I know that in West Virginia, there is a closed internet server that records all of their voting and only officials have access to it within the perimeter of the polling area, so I think that eventually, the larger part of the United States will move towards a similar system because it will make voting a lot more secure.

*still have 2 interviews in the upcoming days