Politico ran a column the day before an expected midterm red wave suddenly worried about several election security issues to keep watch over on Tuesday.
The midterms, according to Politico, are facing a “bevy of threats” ranging anywhere from “stolen Twitter accounts to hacked election websites.”
Perhaps the most remarkable paragraph in the entire column states that while the 2020 election faced questions of election integrity that “have been thoroughly debunked,” these new alleged threats are now real.
“The 2020 presidential election was rife with allegations of voting machine hacks that were later debunked,” Politico claims. “Yet there are real risks that hackers could tunnel into voting equipment and other election infrastructure to try to undermine Tuesday’s vote.”
The 2020 presidential election was rife with allegations of voting machine hacks that were later debunked.
Yet there are real risks that hackers could tunnel into voting equipment and other election infrastructure to try 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 explain the potential for election hacking comes from seven states and Washington, D.C. which use wireless modems “to transmit unofficial election-night results to their central offices.”
“These modems use telecommunications networks that are vulnerable to hackers, and malicious actors could exploit them to tamper with unofficial vote data, corrupt voting machines or compromise the computers used to tally official results,” they reveal.
Interestingly, readers will find this in the third paragraph:
The U.S. has many safeguards protecting voting equipment, so any actual hack would probably be localized, quickly detected and unlikely to affect final results. But as 2020 showed, even an attempt to change votes — or the mere allegation of tampering — could undermine faith in the outcome.
They are when they know their side will lose.
Elections are only safe and secure when they win.
— Ross Schumann (@RossSchumann) November 7, 2022
The warning is strange, since officials and the media have said that electronic voting machines were 100% safe and reliable and the 2020 election was “the most secure in American history.”
In contrast, Matt Blaze, a Georgetown University computer science and law professor who studies voting systems, told Politico, “We now have to worry about anybody getting access to a communication network that is fundamentally open.”
The election we won was secure, but there are real concerns that the election we are about to lose will not be secure. Get ready for this first thing on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/nzCOzG6k9D
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) November 7, 2022
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Warnings Mirror Democrat Concerns in 2019
The Politico column does mirror what Democrats were saying prior to the 2020 election, however.
A series of letters from Senate Democrats penned in 2019 questions the security involved with some voting machine vendors.
The lawmakers “raise concerns about vulnerabilities and a lack of transparency in the election technology industry and the poor condition of voting machines and other election technology equipment.”
“Election security experts have noted for years that our nation’s election systems and infrastructure are under serious threat, but voting machines reportedly continue to fail and breakdown across the country, as vendors fail to innovate, improve, and protect voting systems, putting U.S. elections at avoidable and increased risk,” a statement by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) indicates.
“Warren, Klobuchar, Wyden, and Pocan Investigate Vulnerabilities and Shortcomings of Election Technology Industry with Ties to Private Equity”
Thank you to @ewarren, @ronwyden, @amyklobuchar, & @MarkPocan! https://t.co/VSu2Q0jHrn
— Jennifer Cohn ✍? ? (@jennycohn1) December 12, 2019
It’s unclear what changed between now and then to go from totally safe to the potential for security threats.
We may never discover what those changes are.
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