The only remaining testing to be done was what officials called a “logic and accuracy test,” which is a quick dry run of roughly 20 dummy ballots. The machines began arriving in the county in August, having gone through a federal and state certification process. The voter then clicks “cast” on the screen, the digital votes are recorded on a USB and the backup ballot is transmitted to a sealed canister in the back of the machine. To initiate a vote, a voter places a blank ballot-shaped piece of paper in the machine, makes their selections on the screen, and then presses the word “vote.” The machine prints a ballot that is protected under a plate of glass for the voter to review. The ExpressVoteXL is among their newest and most high-end machines, a luxury “one-stop” voting system that combines a 32-inch touch screen and a paper ballot printer. The machines that broke in Northampton County are called the ExpressVoteXL and are made by Election Systems & Software, a major manufacturer of election machines used across the country. “There is a newer 2015 standard, but the Election Assistance Commission lets voting system vendors choose which one to use.” “Not only is that a decade before the current cybersecurity threats to our elections, it is two years before the first iPhone,” said Kevin Skoglund, a senior technical adviser for the National Election Defense Coalition, a nonpartisan group that focuses on election security issues. “We also need to focus on the outcome, which is that voter-verified paper ballots provided fair, accurate and legal election results, as indicated by the county’s official results reporting and successful postelection risk-limiting audit,” said Katina Granger, a spokeswoman for Election Systems & Software, the manufacturer of the machines. The touch screens failed, but the backups had the correct vote, so while it was inconvenient, it proved the necessity of a paper backup. A senior intelligence official who focuses on election security said there were no visible signs of outside meddling by any foreign actors.Ĭounty officials who led the purchase of the machines have argued that the system actually functioned as it should: The paper ballot backup process worked. Though there has been no conclusive study as to what caused the machines to malfunction, as the machines are locked away for 20 days after an election according to state law, the prevailing theory is that the touch screens were plagued by a bug in the software. And you don’t want the wrong people in the wrong places.” “There’s just too much going on that you worry about those things. “It made me sad because with everything that’s going on, you kind of worry about: Was something tampered with, or was it just a mistake,” said Michelle Broadhecker, 48, of Easton, who said her anxiety about elections began after 2016. Winning those offices still poses familiar challenges. politics, but a Black woman has never been a governor, and only two have been senators. Barriers to Higher Office : Black women have made tremendous gains in U.S.John Fetterman: A dozen miles from the Capitol, the first-term Democrat from Pennsylvania is keeping up with his Senate work while being treated for severe clinical depression.In Michigan: Democrats in the state are pressing ahead with a torrent of liberal measures, the boldest assertion yet of their new political power since taking full control of state government.No Rest for Congressional Mapmakers: What used to be a once-a-decade redistricting fight between parties is now in perpetual motion, and up to 29 seats in 14 states are already at risk of being redrawn.Politics Across the United States From the halls of government to the campaign trail, here’s a look at the political landscape in America. Kassis winning narrowly, 26,142 to 25,137, over his opponent, the Republican Victor Scomillio. With clearly faulty results in at least the judge’s election, officials began counting the paper backup ballots generated by the same machines. When she eventually got through, she said: “I’m coming down there and you better let me in.” She had trouble getting someone from the election office on the phone. Lee Snover, the chairwoman of the county Republicans, said her anxiety began to pick up at 9:30 p.m. In a county with the ability to vote for a straight-party ticket, one candidate’s zero votes was a near statistical impossibility. Some machines reported zero votes for him. Vote totals in a Northampton County judge’s race showed one candidate, Abe Kassis, a Democrat, had just 164 votes out of 55,000 ballots across more than 100 precincts. It was a few minutes after the polls closed here on Election Day when panic began to spread through the county election offices.
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