Protect Our Elections: Don't Let Voting Machines Connect to the Internet

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have confirmed that our foreign adversaries have targeted election networks in all 50 states with cyber-attacks. Connecting voting machines directly to the internet through a wireless modem or other means increases the vulnerability of those systems to hacking. As the EAC writes its guidelines for voting machine security, we need to ensure that they are taking into account every measure of safety.

Email the Election Assistance Commission before the public comment period ends on May 29 and urge them to pass guidelines that ban wireless modems and Internet connectivity in voting systems.

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Dear [Decision Maker],

I strongly support the draft Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) and commend the robust principles and guidelines for software independence, auditability and ballot secrecy.

Given the fact that our election systems are being targeted for interference through cyberattacks, it is imperative the VVSG also prohibit connectivity to the public Internet through wireless modems or other means.

We want to ban modems in vote counting machines both to protect data and to prevent manipulation.

Therefore, we urge the Commission to add the following to the guideline under Principle 13:

DATA PROTECTION:

"The voting system does not use wireless technology or connect to any public telecommunications infrastructure."

Indeed, eliminating wireless modems and internet connectivity will not guarantee our voting machines can’t be manipulated or hacked through corrupted USB sticks, insider attacks or supply chain corruption. That is why ultimately all votes should be cast on paper ballots and all elections should be audited by manually counting a sample of the paper ballots, but this guideline is essential while we still use voting machines.

Thank you for your consideration of this update to the latest set of guidelines.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]

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