The aftermath of the 2020 election made the voting machine the center of attention, as supporters of former President Donald Trump claimed that his victory was stolen

Washington DC man wins groundbreaking elections in prison

ATLANTA-The aftermath of the 2020 election has made the voting machine the center of attention because supporters of former President Donald Trump claimed that his victory was stolen. Although these theories are unproven — many of them are weird and blatantly wrong — election security experts say there are problems that need to be resolved.

For example, in Georgia, according to a sworn statement in a court case, election security expert J. Alex Halderman stated that he found "multiple serious security vulnerabilities" in the state's touch-screen voting machines.

Haldeman told the Associated Press in a telephone interview that although he did not see any evidence that these loopholes were exploited to change the outcome of the 2020 election, “the serious risks that policymakers and the public still need to be aware of” should be immediate Solve to protect future elections.

Trump's supporters - who promoted the "Stop Stealing" slogan - held rallies, posted on social media and filed lawsuits in key states, often making false statements against the voting machines of the Dominion voting system. Almost all legal challenges that cast doubt on the election results have been rejected or withdrawn, and many allegations of fraud have been exposed. State and federal election officials said there is no evidence of widespread fraud. Dominion fought back vigorously and filed a defamation lawsuit against the high-profile Trump allies.

Matt Blaze, a professor of computer science and law at Georgetown University, said that as an election security researcher, it is frustrating to see the proliferation of misinformation. He said that for many years, the concerns raised by election security experts were considered irrelevant.

"Suddenly, people went the other way, saying that there was a flaw not just something that should be fixed, it meant that the election was actually stolen," he said. "It's not true either."

David Cross is the plaintiff's lawyer in a long-running lawsuit brought by supporters of hand-marked paper ballots. His clients were concerned about Georgia’s electronic voting machines long before the 2020 election, but he said they are now working on how to expose loopholes and advocate for change without contributing to conspiracy theories.

He said that when we rely on the most respected elections, seeing the country "try to deny actual scientific and strict inspections of voting equipment by simply saying that we are no different from those who'stop stealing'". Frustrated." Domestic integrity expert. "

Halderman is a voting technologist and director of the Center for Computer Security and Society at the University of Michigan. He is an expert witness for the lawsuit brought by the Individual Voters and the Good Governance Coalition.

In a statement submitted to the Atlanta Federal Court as part of the case, Haldeman wrote that he has identified vulnerabilities that attackers can use to “install malware, whether through temporary physical access (such as the Access), or remote access to the election management system.” He wrote that once installed, this malware “can change the vote of voters and at the same time undermine all program protections implemented by the state.”

As part of the lawsuit, he detailed his findings in a sealed report last month that challenged the electoral system that Georgia purchased in 2019.

State officials have been arguing that the Dominion machine has been thoroughly reviewed and safety measures have been taken to prevent problems.

“In a constantly changing threat environment, any type of electoral system will always face new and ever-changing threats,” said Ari Schaffer, spokesperson for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (Brad Raffensperger). Said in an email. "This is why we remain vigilant about the challenges to the integrity of the election. We have been in contact with federal and state security partners to protect our elections and ensure that the elections are safe and secure."

The state paid more than $100 million for the new Dominion system, replacing outdated equipment that has been in use since 2002. It was used statewide for the first time in the primary election last year. It includes a touch-screen voting machine that can generate paper ballots with barcodes, which are calculated by a scanner.

Haldeman said his 25,000-word report was the result of 12 weeks of intensive testing of the Fulton County Dominion device. According to data compiled by Verified Voting, all voters in Georgia use these machines, and at least some voters in 11 other states also use the same voting machines.

Because it was sealed and archived, the Associated Press did not see Halderman's report or any details of the alleged vulnerability. It has also been designated as "only in the eyes of the lawyer", which means that even the actual parties to the lawsuit cannot see it.

For this reason, no one in the Secretary of State’s office saw the report, but Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fox said, “We are familiar with these disputes. They are not new. The Halderman report was made possible because the judge allowed him to Unrestricted use of equipment he cannot obtain."

Halderman, who has long believed that touch-screen machines are vulnerable, said that access allowed him to identify specific vulnerabilities and the ways in which they might be exploited for the first time. He believes that this information should force the state and the dominion to solve these problems.

"This is just standard security practice," he said.

Halderman's task is to evaluate these machines, not to find evidence that potential vulnerabilities have been exploited in past elections.

In a conference call with all parties last month, the US District Judge Amy Totenberg, who presided over the case, said that she was not ready to uncover his report. But according to a report card, she did say that she was "paying enough attention to the information contained in it."

"I have seen how this will explode," she added. Tottenberg’s past criticism of Georgia’s electoral system in this case has been cited by people who promote conspiracy theories.

Due to its confidential name, the report has not been shared with Dominion. Haldeman wrote that since January, he had been trying to arrange a meeting with Dominion through the plaintiff's lawyer, but the company did not agree to the meeting.

"Despite the continuous defamation attacks on our company and its systems, Dominion has emerged from the 2020 election cycle. It can be said to be the most tested, vetted, and fully validated voting technology in modern history. Our company welcomes The researchers provide feedback in good faith," Dominion said in a statement.

In response to the Halderman report, the state submitted a rebuttal statement from its expert witness Juan Gilbert.

Gilbert, head of the Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering at the University of Florida, wrote: “Any computer can be hacked, as long as it has sufficient access rights and knowledge of a determined malicious actor.” He added, although he believed Electronic voting marking devices can be improved, but this "does not mean that I think they are not secure enough to be unconstitutional or otherwise not allowed to be attacked."

Although Halderman said that he has tested various hacking methods that he believes are normally undetectable, Gilbert wrote, “I don’t know that Dr. Halderman provided any other independent researcher with equipment that was hacked by'undetectable' to test. His theory: In fact, it is undetectable and uncorrectable."

In a statement submitted to the court, Haldeman retorted that Gilbert’s statement did not dispute the existence of loopholes he detailed or the steps he could take to change individual votes and election results. Haldeman wrote that nothing in Gilbert’s statement indicates that state officials understand the severity of the problem or have taken any steps to resolve them.

He believes that state election officials "urgently need to participate in the findings of my report and resolve the vulnerabilities described in them before attackers can use them."

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