Six States at 'High' Risk for Voting Machine Mishaps on Super Tuesday

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Six of the 15 states that hold presidential primaries on Super Tuesday are at "high" risk for having election results affected by electronic voting machine malfunction or tampering, according to a new report by Common Cause and the Verified Voting Foundation. Twenty-four states hold presidential primaries or caucuses on Feb. 5, but only 15 of them will use voting machines to select candidates.

In all, a troubling 17 states that will hold their presidential primaries over the next several months, including two that have already held them, are at high risk for voting machine mishaps that could change election results, the report shows. The states were given that ranking for using electronic voting machines that do not produce an independent, voter-verifiable paper record that could be used in the case of a recount or audit.

In addition, the report found 17 states to be at "medium" risk for having election results affected by voting machine failure. This classification was given to states that use voting systems that deploy paper ballots or produce a voter-verifiable paper record of each voter's vote, but do not require audits.

The report found six states to be at "low" risk for a voting meltdown because those states use voting systems that deploy paper ballots or produce voter verifiable paper records, as well as require audits.

The ratings for the 15 states holding presidential primaries on voting machines on Super Tuesday are below. Forty states, including the District of Columbia, are reviewed inside the report. The remaining states were not reviewed since they hold caucuses and do not use electronic voting machines.

    State                   Risk Level

    Arkansas                HIGH
    Delaware                HIGH
    Georgia                 HIGH
    New Jersey              HIGH
    New York                HIGH
    Tennessee               HIGH
    Alabama                 MID
    Arizona                 MID
    Massachusetts           MID
    Utah                    MID
    Oklahoma                MID
    California              LOW
    Connecticut             LOW
    Illinois                LOW
    Missouri                LOW

In addition to assessing the risk level, Common Cause and Verified Voting call on Congress to pass the Emergency Election Assistance for Secure Elections Act, which would authorize critically needed funding for states that want to convert from paperless systems to paper-based systems by the general election in November.

The groups also urge states or jurisdictions voting on paperless electronic systems to have on hand a supply of paper ballots in case of machine malfunction, among other recommendations.

Click here to read the report: http://www.commoncause.org/VotingRiskReport