Final Editorial Package
Kieran Nashad, Mika Badyal, Sean Lalley, Jonathan Andujar
December 16, 2018
Overview
Sean Lalley
The current voting situation in America right now is one of concern and ever-advancing technology. While this new technology for voting machines and methods may seem like a step in the right direction for people uninformed about the current technological downfalls in the security system. The best and safest advancement for the voting situation in the country would be to go backwards to paper ballots and hard copies as they are less vulnerable to tampering and completely impossible to hack. This change however, would be huge for just Mercer County, let alone the whole state of New Jersey and even the entire country.
The major issue for the state of New Jersey right now even after the midterm elections are over and have been finished, is that there is no paper backup whatsoever. If there was ever to be found that there was tampering or hacking of the machines in New Jersey, there is nothing that could be done to potentially revert the votes back to their originals or to remove the altered votes because there would be no way to know which votes were correct and which were changed.
The voting machines that are being used currently throughout the state are proclaimed as having barriers to prevent hacking and that the vote counters have audited anything that they have noticed as being changed. However, there are many possibilities and ways for someone with malicious intent to hack or alter the voting outcomes of any election in New Jersey and even the country. One possibility that was discussed in an interview by Jen Schwartz, in Scientific American, of J. Alex Halderman was the chance that hackers could infiltrate election-management systems and spread their malicious code that way. The software could then be used to alter the programming in voting machines to change the way that the votes placed were recorded. A specific candidate or outcome could be chosen by the hacker and then the votes that would needed to be changed would be by the software. The result would then wind up in the hacker’s favor; this could be repeated across many districts and states ending up with a change in the control of the House or a change of governors. This outcome was just one possibility discussed in the interview by Jen Schwartz and there are many others that could be just as damaging and subtle.
The overall voting situation in our country and even in our state is not as good as it should be and to describe it in one word: inferior. Making use of old and outdated equipment, a lack of cybersecurity in said equipment, and the fact that there is not paper backup to the votes cast is pathetic. Especially after the scandal of hacking during the 2016 presidential election there should have been something done to change, but there was very little that was accomplished in the two years since. There are many problems in our voting system and there are many potential solutions that haven’t been implemented and there are most likely many people across the country that are interested in changes that could and should occur.
Voter Security, are we Really that Bad?
December 16, 2018
Voting in America has gone digital. Machines now take the place of traditional paper ballots, serving as evidence that technology continues to evolve, however, this could pose a significant challenge to the United States as a whole.
Voter security is becoming an increasingly large issue, the 2016 election and the 2018 midterm election in Broward county, Florida are examples of this.
In July, the House Administration Committee released a report labeling New Jersey as one of the 5 least secure states regarding voter security. In order to take a closer look, the Mercer County Clerk, Paula Sollami Covello and Deputy Clerk, Walker Worthy, gave their thoughts on the subject.
Walker Worthy began by discussing the three offices in charge of Mercer County elections, the Clerk’s office, the Superintendent of Elections’ office, and the Board of Elections. After which, the subject of machines with paper backups surfaced.
Machines with paper backups allow for a post election audit to ensure every vote was counted accurately, it is generally agreed that a paper trail is needed to ensure greater security. “None of New Jersey has a paper backup, but one thing I will tell you is that we’re doing a pilot program in Mercer County on December 11th for a special school election, and we’re actually going to do half the town of Princeton with the paper ballot backup,” Covello said. “We feel that it is very important but we don’t have it at this time”.
The main reason for the lack of a paper backup is the age of the voting machines themselves. Covello’s best estimation of the machines’ age was that “...they were purchased 14 or 15 years ago and at the time they did not see a need for a paper trail, and computers have changed dramatically since then…”. Covello specified that after the importance for a paper trail was recognized, there was no money to replace the machines.
Robert Lester, the Supervising Electronic Technician of the Mercer County Office of the Superintendent of Elections, later confirmed that the machines were purchased in 2004, making the machines 14 years old.
This next election may be different, Covello and Worthy stated that New Jersey received a grant from the Help America Vote Act, which is being used to pilot the new machines.
Responding to the report by the House administration committee, Covello agreed that New Jersey was one of the worst states for voter security. “We need to have a verified paper trail, that’s probably why they raided us like that because many states already have a paper trail but we don’t,” Covello said. “Some states are much more advanced than we are,” Worthy added.
Covello and Worthy did say that in spite of this report, New Jersey takes other measures and precautions to avoid any sort of outside interference. “Look at the three voting entities we have, most states don’t have that,” Worthy said. “When we count our votes, they’re not counting on the internet, that is a huge thing, because when they’re counted on the internet people can go in and change results. It has to be counted on a free standing computer that has no attachments to the intenet,” Covello said.
Talking on the hacking of actual voting machines, Worthy and Covello explained how they were safeguarded. Each machine has a seal which a hacker must break in order to hack the machine. A broken seal indicates the machine has been hacked. “It’s almost impossible to do that in an election setting,” said Covello.
Although New Jersey may have some of the worst voting security precautions in the United States, officials such as Mercer County’s Clerk and Deputy Clerk continue to make sure that there is not a gaping hole in New Jersey’s voting security even if advancements must be made.
College Opinion on Voting Security
Mika Badyal
December 16, 2018
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." This statement reflects a common belief amongst younger voters. However, this is far from the truth. In July of 2016, only a month after it was revealed that Russian hackers had tampered with the 2016 Presidential Election, the Board of Elections in Illinois was hacked.
Within New Jersey, a significant number of 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, DJ DeSomma, 18, 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. In addition, this greatly concerns me as, previously, I was unaware that people would even tamper with state elections because I did not think it was as important as the presidential one, but now I see that this is a problem that, if not controlled, can get out of hand quickly.”
The individuals that were interviewed were all registered voters and 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 might have been 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. Therefore, 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, DeSomma 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."
Voting security is becoming an increasing problem within the United States. 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.” McSharry believes that “the various governments, both national and state, must take the steps necessary to strengthen our cybersecurity from both foreign and domestic threats.” With the voting security crisis drastically increased in the last couple of decades, the question of “What will America do to fix this?” still remains unanswered.
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