Election administrators who reject hand-marked
paper ballots as antiquated, inconvenient or
unwieldy have few options beyond ballot-
marking devices. That’s because the $300 million
voting equipment and services industry is so
insular and entrenched.
The industry faces virtually no federal regulation
even though election technology was
designated critical infrastructure in January
- Federal certification guidelines for voting
machine design are 15 years old and voluntary.
The leading vendors have resisted publicly
disclosing third-party penetration testing of
their systems.
”It’s a self-reinforcing system that keeps it
frozen in a place in the past,” said Eddie Perez, a
former product development director for Hart
InterCivic, the No. 3 voting equipment company,
now with the OSET Institute, a nonprofit that
promotes reliable voting solutions. “They don’t
want to make any changes in the equipment
unless they absolutely have to.”
The Republican-controlled Senate has refused
to take up bills that would, among other things,
require a voter-verifiable paper trail and require
COUNTIES USING BALLOT-MARKING
DEVICES IN 2020
Ballot-marking devices, which voting security experts question
because a computer marks the paper ballots, are being used for all
voters in more than 400 counties in 16 states.