A new study finds that voting-technology problems—including hacking and the failure of some systems—in several US states could cause difficulties during the 2012 elections. The report—which the Common Cause Education Fund, the Verified Voting Foundation, and the Rutgers University Law School Constitutional Litigation Clinic produced—recommends that locations using electronic voting have a paper-based backup system for recounts or auditing. “On Election Day, November 6, the stakes will be high,” the report stated. “A number of critical races will be very close, and some might be decided by very few votes. At the same time, it is highly likely that voting systems will fail in multiple places across the country. In fact, in every national election in the past decade, computerized voting systems have failed.” Moreover, Common Cause said, some elections officials are overlooking cybersecurity threats. The study said five states—Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Vermont and Wisconsin—are “exceptionally well-prepared” to handle voting machine problems and breakdowns, while six states—Colorado, Delaware, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina—are underprepared. (PhysOrg)(ABC News)(AFP)(Counting Votes 2012: A State by State Look at Election Preparedness)
