An investigation into voting irregularities during the November general election has raised serious security concerns about equipment used in about one-fifth of Virginia’s precincts, a new report says. The report issued late Wednesday says the state Board of Elections should consider decertifying the WinVote touchscreen system and barring its use in future elections. The board is expected to conduct a public hearing on this and other options in the next few days. Link: Full DOE report on Virginia voting equipment
Gov. Terry McAuliffe ordered the investigation in response to widespread voting glitches, including machines crashing or recording a vote for the wrong candidate. The Virginia Department of Elections hired a federally certified voting system test lab to assist in the investigation. The review is continuing, but the preliminary findings were serious enough to prompt the department it issue an interim report so steps can be taken to address the problems before the June 9 primary elections.
The WinVote machines are used in 29 localities, including nine that will hold primaries. The report says those nine localities could still properly administer the election if they are informed of WinVote decertification by April 14.
Full Article: Report cites security issues with some Va. voting machines.