After the 2016 elections exposed how vulnerable our election systems were to cyberattacks, New Jersey, like many other U.S. states began mulling ways to improve the security of its election infrastructure. While still mulling what changes to make to their election systems, the Center for American Progress dropped a bombshell on the Garden state, giving it a lowly D-grade for its voting machine security.
Stung by the embarrassing D-grade evaluation, NJ state lawmakers felt compelled to do something, and they have. A new NJ bill A3991, the "New Jersey Secure Elections Act" seeks to do just that, replace the state's paperless voting system with one that leaves an auditable paper trail
As shocking as it sounds, even after Russian meddling in 2016, many states especially where the GOP controls the legislature still use electronic voting machines that cannot be credibly audited in case of disputed results. Texas is one such example.
While NJ should be commended for taking a concrete step forward in securing the vote, it is the shocking testimony of one of the state's leading Computer Scientists, Professor Andrew Appel that has caught Yours Truly's attention and should catch yours too.
In his testimony about voting machine security, Princeton University Computer Science Professor said paperless electronic voting machines are "fatally flawed technology." Turns out Professor Appel is so sure about his assertion he has even demonstrated how to hack a New Jersey voting machine.
Now if these were conclusory allegations by some random loud mouth in #TheResistance the lack of coverage by the Mainstream Media would be understandable. However given that this bombshell assertion is being made by a highly respected Ivy League scholar(Princeton is Super Ivy League) the lack of coverage by the Mainstream Media has to be called into question.
How can the world's leading democracy be conducting elections using "fatally flawed" voting machines and the Media remain relatively silent about it? To its credit Fox News did do a segment on Professor Appel. That however is not nearly enough Media coverage for such a consequential story--especially in an election year.
A charge has been levelled, and Yours Truly concurs, that it is the Mainstream Media that gave us Trump. If the same Mainstream Media cannot find a way to have this Ivy League professor explain his bombshell assertion to the public, a second charge could be levelled that the Mainstream Media is helping Trump's GOP steal Midterms 2018
There's absolutely no excuse as to why CNN or MSNBC cannot interview this esteemed Computer Scientist--none!!
For those of you very happy with@Emolclause’s activism don’t shy away from the “tip jar” below on your way out
You may reach the author via email at author@grassrootsdempolitics.com or author@emolumentsclause.com