Georgia’s voting machines recorded votes properly – but they have hacking vulnerabilities that went undiscovered for years. The findings are from a recent review of the voting machines and represent a mixed bag for people concerned about foreign and domestic interference in U.S. elections. First, the good news: There’s no evidence any of the vulnerabilities have been used to alter votes in any elections, as my colleagues Ellen Nakashima and Amy Gardner report. Most of the vulnerabilities are also quite difficult to exploit, requiring hands-on access to the voting machines. And they’re likely to be caught by standard security protocols in election offices. But: The vulnerabilities in the Dominion Voting Systems-brand machines remained undetected for years. They might not have been discovered now if not for a long-running lawsuit over the security of Georgia’s machines during which University of Michigan computer scientist J. Alex Halderman was given a chance to examine the machines on behalf of the plaintiffs in the case. Such independent reviews are still relatively rare — and election security advocates warn vulnerabilities in other voting systems could still be waiting out there undiscovered. Halderman’s findings were verified by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which is in the process of notifying more than a dozen states that use the machines about the vulnerabilities and mitigation measures they should take, according to Ellen and Amy who got an advance look at the CISA advisory.
Georgia: Revealed: election conspiracy theorists work as election officials across state | Justin Glawe/The Guardian
The effort to install local election officials who promote Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen has seen particular success in the crucial swing state of Georgia, where at least eight county election officials are promoters of the falsehood, a Guardian investigation has found. The officials span the state, from suburban counties outside Atlanta to rural counties near the Tennessee and Alabama borders. All have substantial power over the administration of local, state and national elections in their counties, often with little oversight beyond scantly attended public meetings and small-town newspapers. … The investigation looked at seven counties out of 159, meaning the number of election officials who support election conspiracy theories could be much higher. “These disturbing facts bring to light what we’ve known for a while: support for the big lie is growing – the result of powerful political actors stoking a dangerous fire,” the voting rights group New Georgia Project said in a statement.
Full Article: Revealed: election conspiracy theorists work as election officials across Georgia | Donald Trump | The Guardian