Kentucky election indictments reveal dangers of paperless voting

By Christian Smith-Socaris
Progressive States Network

Political corruption and vote buying have been alleged in Clay County, Kentucky for decades.  In an effort to counteract that tradition, the Department of Justice has indictedseveral public officials -- including a judge, the county clerk, theschool superintendent and members of the elections board -- for alleged votebuying and election fraud.

According to the indictment, the defendants not only conspired to steal elections the old fashioned way but also exploited a vulnerabilityin their new ES&S iVotronic paperless voting machines.

Thedefendants are alleged to have duped voters into leaving the votingbooth after they had pressed the "vote" button, which doesn't actuallycast the vote, but brings up a review screen where a voter confirmstheir selections. Once the voter had left the booth, corrupt electionworkers went in and changed their votes.

Thiscase is significant for a couple reasons. The first is that the majordefense used by voting machine vendors regarding the flaws in theirproducts has been that none of the problems have ever resulted in astolen election. If the DOJ is correct, several elections were likely stolenin Kentucky on electronic machines. 

Second, the fact that usingelectronic voting machines is confusing enough that a many voter can betricked into leaving the booth before they have actually cast theirballot is a critical vulnerability in these systems that has notpreviously been appreciated.

Christian Smith-Socaris is Election Reform Policy Specialist for the Progressive States Network. A version of this story originally appeared in the Network's Stateside Dispatch.