The reported vulnerabilities of the WinVote Direct Recording Devices (DRE), are very troubling for the citizens of the Commonwealth.  But this is not all “new news.”  We read about the problems some locales had during the 2014 elections and have been concerned for several years with the thought that Virginia counties and cities were continuing to use machines with old technology, increasing failure rates, and no way to get them repaired and “election ready.”

    After the 2012 election, the bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration (PCEA) issued a report.  They recommended “standard setting and certification process for voting machines must be reformed” and “audits of voting equipment must be conducted after each election, as part of a comprehensive audit program, and data concerning machine performance must be publicly disclosed in a common data format”.    In 2014, Virginia had systems fail in a few jurisdictions.  Now three years after the PCEA report we have a study reporting security problems. The company issuing the report is a reputable, independent third party. The writing was on the wall.

    The League of Women Voters position supports “voting systems that are secure, accurate, re-countable, accessible, and provide a voter verifiable paper trail.”   The WinVote system does not adhere to this.   A 2007 Virginia law stopped the purchase of this type of equipment on the premise that jurisdictions would replace them as the equipment failed.  That time has come.  Some jurisdictions argue this point.  Some of these machines may be at least 12 years old, many bought around 2002 with HAVA money; they use old technology.  Does your 12 year old computer work optimally now?   In just the last five years we have seen an explosion of technological advances   unimagined in 2002.   WinVote equipment runs on Window XP, software that Microsoft no longer supports.  Today’s smart phones are probably more powerful than this technology – on which we base the most important element of our democracy.  With incidents of hacking ever present in the news, we would be foolish to ignore the information before us.  With our recent history of close elections in Virginia, we need to have votes to actually count during the recounts.

    The Virginia League of Women Voters also has positions that support the role of the State Board of Elections in exercising oversight and enforcing mandatory standards for elections management.  It is their responsibility to certify election equipment.  Knowing of the condition of the WinVote machines and the results of the study, why would anyone suggest that they not do something about the situation?  Wouldn’t this be neglecting its responsibility?  

    Yes, it will cost money to replace these machines; everything does.  The General Assembly chose not to support bond funding for new equipment, which was unfortunate.  Some local jurisdictions planned for the future and set aside funding for new equipment; others have not, but it does not release them from the responsibility of administering elections with the integrity voters expect and should demand.   

    There is never a good time to change equipment; change is disruptive but it must happen.  Virginia has elections every year--sometimes multiple elections annually.   We have elections statewide this fall and will be a swing state in the 2016 presidential election.  We need to do what is necessary to prevent any system failure that taints our election integrity.