Voting machines with Chinese-made parts can be compromised before they ever reach a polling place. That was the warning Homeland Security Secretary Mullin sent to a task force in a letter released on Aug. 27, NTD reported.
“Voting machines with components manufactured by foreign adversaries introduce significant security risks,” Mullin wrote. A part tampered with at the factory, he said, could give hackers a way in and open the door to “synchronized attacks across multiple machines and jurisdictions.” He said the documents point to the need for mitigation strategies. The report says parts of many machines used in the United States are made in China.
Grant strings
The concern is already tied to money. The Homeland Security Grant Program has more than $1 billion available, and states that want their full awards must meet a “trust but verify” test for what their machines report. After the coming election, that means random manual counts of paper ballots, done “to ensure that any errors or manipulation is detected,” Mullin told the task force.
The rules announced earlier this year go further. Applicants have to submit plans to move away from electronic systems that count votes using bar codes or QR codes, which DHS called “unsecure.” States must use equipment that takes hand-marked paper ballots. DHS said at the time that this leaves a paper trail that makes results easy to check and irregularities easy to spot.
Every state also has to run a manual audit after each federal election, covering at least 5 percent of the ballots cast.
