Politico Warns of Hacking Threats to Voting Machines

Politico ran a column the day earlier than an anticipated midterm purple wave abruptly nervous about a number of election safety points to maintain watch over on Tuesday.

The midterms, in keeping with Politico, are going through a “bevy of threats” ranging wherever from “stolen Twitter accounts to hacked election web sites.”

Maybe essentially the most outstanding paragraph in all the column states that whereas the 2020 election confronted questions of election integrity that “have been totally debunked,” these new alleged threats at the moment are actual.

“The 2020 presidential election was rife with allegations of voting machine hacks that have been later debunked,” Politico claims. “But there are actual dangers that hackers might tunnel into voting tools and different election infrastructure to attempt to undermine Tuesday’s vote.”

The 2020 presidential election was rife with allegations of voting machine hacks that have been later debunked.

But there are actual dangers that hackers might tunnel into voting tools and different election infrastructure to attempt to undermine Tuesday’s vote.https://t.co/kDij1J08eU

— POLITICO (@politico) November 7, 2022

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Politico Warns of Voting Machine Vulnerability

The Politico report proceeds to elucidate the potential for election hacking comes from seven states and Washington, D.C. which use wi-fi modems “to transmit unofficial election-night outcomes to their central workplaces.”

“These modems use telecommunications networks which might be susceptible to hackers, and malicious actors might exploit them to tamper with unofficial vote information, corrupt voting machines or compromise the computer systems used to tally official outcomes,” they reveal.

Apparently, readers will discover this within the third paragraph:

The U.S. has many safeguards defending voting tools, so any precise hack would in all probability be localized, shortly detected and unlikely to have an effect on remaining outcomes. However as 2020 confirmed, even an try to alter votes — or the mere allegation of tampering — might undermine religion within the consequence.

They’re once they know their facet will lose.

Elections are solely protected and safe once they win.

— Ross Schumann (@RossSchumann) November 7, 2022

The warning is unusual, since officers and the media have stated that digital voting machines have been 100% protected and dependable and the 2020 election was “essentially the most safe in American historical past.”

In distinction, Matt Blaze, a Georgetown College laptop science and regulation professor who research voting techniques, instructed Politico, “We now have to fret about anyone having access to a communication community that’s essentially open.”

The election we received was safe, however there are actual issues that the election we’re about to lose won’t be safe. Prepare for this primary factor on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/nzCOzG6k9D

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) November 7, 2022

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Warnings Mirror Democrat Issues in 2019

The Politico column does mirror what Democrats have been saying previous to the 2020 election, nonetheless.

A sequence of letters from Senate Democrats penned in 2019 questions the safety concerned with some voting machine distributors.

The lawmakers “elevate issues about vulnerabilities and an absence of transparency within the election know-how business and the poor situation of voting machines and different election know-how tools.”

“Election safety specialists have famous for years that our nation’s election techniques and infrastructure are underneath severe risk, however voting machines reportedly proceed to fail and breakdown throughout the nation, as distributors fail to innovate, enhance, and defend voting techniques, placing U.S. elections at avoidable and elevated threat,” a press release by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) signifies.

“Warren, Klobuchar, Wyden, and Pocan Examine Vulnerabilities and Shortcomings of Election Know-how Business with Ties to Non-public Fairness”

Thanks to @ewarren⁩, @ronwyden, @amyklobuchar, & ⁦@MarkPocan⁩! https://t.co/VSu2Q0jHrn

— Jennifer Cohn ✍🏻 📢 (@jennycohn1) December 12, 2019

It’s unclear what modified between at times to go from completely protected to the potential for safety threats. 

We could by no means uncover what these modifications are.