Virginia bans certain voting machines over hacking concerns

RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia State Board of Elections voted Friday to ban use of touch-screen voting machines in November’s closely watched gubernatorial contest, over concerns the equipment can be hacked. The three-person board voted unanimously at a hastily arranged meeting to decertify touch-screen voting machines, which are still used by counties and cities around the state. The state said it is keeping information about these vulnerabilities private because other states use these touch-screen voting machines. Election officials from the city of Norfolk said in a letter that a vote to decertify “would be like screaming ‘fire’ in a crowded movie theatre.” Some of the counties using touch-screen machines are in economically depressed areas of the state that have not been able to afford voting machine upgrades.