There is nothing more fundamental to our democracy than the right to vote. And people must believe that the system they use to vote is accurate, fair and can not be tampered with. A voting machine that causes potential voters to question the integrity of the process is a machine that hurts people's belief in free and fair elections and, ultimately, in the functioning of our democracy. I know there is a cost associated with replacing these machines and that this may be a hardship for some localities. However, that hardship pales in comparison to the cost of people losing faith in our democracy.

I would also add that my understanding is that these machines use 16-bit encryption, a standard that no one responsible for protecting important, sensitive data would ever use. It is extremely vulnerable to hackers.

Please de-certify these machines so that they can be replaced immediately.