New Jersey is one of just five states in which almost none of its voting machines have a way to verify that their results are valid.
All
the state’s counties but one use machines that record votes directly and
only into an electronic memory module. Only small Warren County uses
machines that simultaneously record votes on paper, the gold standard
nationwide for ensuring that what the computer says is what voters
intended.
Last year, New Jersey
received a $10 million federal grant to help update its voting systems.
The administration of Gov. Phil Murphy instead spent the biggest part
of the grant on efforts to increase the number of people registered to
vote, including signing up anyone at a motor vehicle agency claiming to
be a New Jersey citizen, no license or other documentation required.
Some
of the money funded a tiny pilot program with paper-backup voting
machines in small election districts, one each in three counties in the
state.
These succeeded in producing a
verifiable voting record but also resulted in long lines to vote at
times. Voters took too long to vote, with their confusion with the new
machines reportedly worsened by excessive explanations on their use.
Some voters were handed wet or creased paper ballots to insert into the
machines, which jammed.
In
typical New Jersey government fashion, much more is being spent on the
machines than seems necessary. One pilot town spent $10,000 per machine
and the state Office of Legislative services has estimated the initial
cost of switching to 11,245 updated voting machines would be $100
million. The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, which
strongly supports verifiable machines, figures $40 million to $64
million would be enough.
State officials say voting machines
can’t be hacked because they’re not connected to the internet. But their
memory modules with the only record of the vote gets connected to
computers for tabulation, and a Princeton professor once demonstrated a
person could hack the machine itself in seven minutes. That’s not
far-fetched, since voting machines are distributed and left unsecured
ahead of Election Day.
A case
in Cumberland County showed what is possible for a political insider or
simply someone who feels any means is justified to achieve the election
result they want.
In 2004, a county employee programmed voting machines to award the votes for two popular candidates to others, handing them the victory. Although this was confirmed by an investigation, there was no record of who voters actually had selected. A new election was ordered and confirmed the rightful winners. But the rigging of the election was only caught because the small number of voters in this case made it obvious. There’s no way of knowing how many votes in other elections have gone to the wrong candidates.
In 2004, a county employee programmed voting machines to award the votes for two popular candidates to others, handing them the victory. Although this was confirmed by an investigation, there was no record of who voters actually had selected. A new election was ordered and confirmed the rightful winners. But the rigging of the election was only caught because the small number of voters in this case made it obvious. There’s no way of knowing how many votes in other elections have gone to the wrong candidates.
State appellate court judges expressed
serious concerns about ballot integrity and ordered a review of the
state’s election safeguards. The next year, Gov. Jon Corzine signed into
law a requirement that all voting machines in the state include a paper
backup by 2008. When that deadline came and went with no compliance,
the Legislature merely suspended it indefinitely.
Now
similar bills languish in the Legislature. Political leaders seem to
have little interest in ensuring the integrity and meaning of voting in
New Jersey.
https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/editorials/nj-continues-its-decade-long-stall-of-securing-its-voting/article_8d9a7742-7374-5420-826b-4ae121f8e621.html
https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/editorials/nj-continues-its-decade-long-stall-of-securing-its-voting/article_8d9a7742-7374-5420-826b-4ae121f8e621.html
No comments:
Post a Comment