Worried by hackers, US state does away with electronic voting machines
The US state of Virginia is set to replace direct-recording electronic voting machines with devices that produce a clear paper trail. The state's election board has approved a Department of Elections recommendation to make counties replace these machines, Engadget reported recently. The move is aimed at increasing the security and integrity of Virginia's voting systems ahead of the November election, the Department of Elections said in a statement. The move comes amid concerns over Russian hacking efforts. Virginia is one of the two states holding the statewide elections for governor and state legislature this year, says a report by The Wall Street Journal.
The Department of Elections had requested the Virginia Information Technology Agency to make a security assessment of various paperless voting systems in use in the state and determined that decertification was necessary to safeguard against unauthorised access to the machines.
Additionally, the direct-recording electronic voting equipment in use in Virginia does not have a voter-verifiable paper audit trail, which is an important security feature provided by the paper systems, the statement added. Edgardo Cortes, Virginia's Commissioner of Elections, said,
The security of the election process is always of paramount importance. The Department is continually vigilant on matters related to security of voting equipment used in Virginia.
In India, allegations by some parties of large-scale tampering of electronic voting machines (EVMs) with regard to the results of assembly elections in five states held in February–March and the Delhi civic polls led the Election Commission of India to host an EVM challenge in June to prove the reliability of the equipment.
No political party, however, took up the challenge.
With inputs from IANS.
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