US Voting Machine Vulnerabilities

By Evan Ackerman

For those of us unfortunate enough to be Americans right now, we have more to worry about than who we’re going to elect as the next president. We also have to be paranoid about whether we’ll actually be voting for who we intend to vote for at all. Our system (make that systems) for casting votes are not only notoriously confusing, but also notoriously hackable. DVICE has an interactive map of the United States, showing which states are using the less hackable but more confusing paper ballots, which states are using the more hackable but less confusing electronic voting machines, and where all of the other methods of voting fall on that spectrum. You can click on each state for more detailed information, including pros and cons on the different types of voting machines.

Of course, this doesn’t imply that voting on an electronic machine means your vote is going to get hacked, nor does it imply that you’re going to make a mistake voting on punch cards. The point of these maps is simply to make you aware of potential issues with the voting process in your state, since these things have a way of screwing themselves up. Funny, that.

There is a bright side to all this, however: when your guy loses, now you’ve got something to blame it on. Canada is starting to look pretty good now, eh?

[ DVICE ]