On January 18, a Georgia court witnessed a demonstration by a voting systems expert. The expert, J. Alex Halderman, who is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan, showed how Dominion Voting Systems machines can be hacked effortlessly. Using a Bic pen and a smart card, he was able to copy, edit, and alter votes within seconds. This demonstration took place in front of U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg in Atlanta, as reported by Law360 Pulse.
In 2017, the Coalition for Good Governance, a liberal activist group, filed a lawsuit against Georgia’s use of Dominion machines for voting. They argued that these machines, which lacked a verifiable print ballot, could be manipulated to alter the voting counts. As a result of the lawsuit, Georgia election officials switched to Dominion Voting Systems in 2020. Although the new machines provided voters with a paper ballot containing a QR code, the Good Governance suit still insisted that Dominion machines were vulnerable to attacks and that the paper QR code did not allow for easy verification of votes.
On January 18, Halderman started his demonstration by requesting a pen from an attorney. He proceeded to insert the pen into the Dominion voting machine and kept it there for a short while, causing the machine to reboot into “safe mode.”
Afterwards, Halderman explained that it was possible for someone to duplicate or modify files on the voting machine, alter its operational configurations, or even install harmful software.
Halderman mentioned that accessing the “terminal emulator” could enable a user to bypass the computer’s regular security settings and gain “super-user” privileges. This would allow them to view, monitor, and modify “anything,” including ballots, on the voting machine without any restrictions
“All it takes is five seconds and a Bic pen,” Halderman said.
Halderman additionally placed a smart card worth $10 into the machine. He mentioned that these smart cards have the ability to copy the cards used by poll workers, voters, and technicians to access the voting machines.
The poll worker and voter cards can be used county-wide to “print as many ballots as you would like,” Halderman said.
The trial’s outcome is crucial, as Judge Amy Totenberg, appointed by President Barack Obama, has the responsibility of making a significant decision that could impact Georgia’s elections in 2024.
After the 2020 election, there were unfounded conspiracy theories about Dominion voting machines, which were spread by supporters of former President Donald Trump. They claimed that these machines were used to steal the election from him. Dominion, the election equipment company, fought back by taking legal action and reached a settlement of $787 million with Fox News in April.
In August 2019, Judge Totenberg prohibited the state from using the outdated machines beyond that year. The state had already agreed to purchase new voting machines from Dominion a few weeks earlier and had to quickly deploy them before the 2020 election. The activists then amended their lawsuit to challenge the new system.
Lawyers representing Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger strongly oppose the activists’ claims and believe that their case lacks legal and factual merit.
Experts who have been consulted by the activists have found no evidence of vulnerabilities being exploited to manipulate election outcomes. However, they emphasize the need to address these concerns promptly to safeguard future elections.
While waiting for Judge Totenberg’s verdict after the trial concludes, Georgia lawmakers are considering legislation that could address some concerns by removing QR codes from ballots.
Relevant articles:
– Computer scientist shows how to tamper with Georgia voting machine, in election security trial: “All it takes is five seconds and a Bic pen.”
– Is Georgia’s election system constitutional? A federal judge will decide in trial set to begin, ABC27, Sun, 07 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT
– Dominion machine hacked live in front of Georgia judge, World Tribune, Tue, 23 Jan 2024 21:41:00 GMT