The General Assembly turned down a request from the State Election Commission and Gov. Henry McMaster to expedite the replacement of the state’s aging voting machines, providing only $4 million of a $20 million request to get going on a project expected to cost about $50 million over two years. With heightened concerns over election tampering, lawmakers should reconsider their decision as soon as possible. Even if all of the funding was provided next year, the earliest South Carolina voters would have access to the new machines that produce a paper trail of their votes would be the November 2020 general election. The state is unlikely to have the new machines in time for the 2020 presidential primaries or other contests held before that time.
That’s the prediction Chris Whitmire of the State Election Commission recently gave to The Post and Courier. The Election Commission says the existing system, which does not provide an auditable paper trail, is nevertheless secure from tampering over the internet. Not that some people do not try.
The Election Commission reported that 149,832 unauthorized attempts were made to access the South Carolina voter registration system on Election Day 2016, at least some of which were likely malicious in nature. (Others may have been innocent mistakes, by elections officials for example.)
The problem is that the security of the votes we cast in South Carolina is nevertheless below the level recommended in the latest best practices issued in response to Russian attempts to hack into election databases and technology in at least 21 states during the 2016 election cycle. Most notably, South Carolina is one of only five states where voting machines do not provide a backup paper trail of the vote.
Full Article: S.C. must act to make voting more secure | Editorial | thetandd.com.