The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Protect Democracy, the ACLU Voting Rights Project, and Public Citizen today sent letters to 29 Texas counties urging the adoption of secure, paper-based voting machines ahead of the 2020 elections. The identified counties currently use paperless machines, which the groups argue present significant risk to election security.

“A voting system that cannot guarantee secure ballots jeopardizes the democracy demanded by our Constitution,” said Edgar Saldivar, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Texas. “Counties play a crucial role in the electoral process. We urge them to take the necessary steps to ensure every eligible voter can cast a ballot that will be counted.”

The letter details flaws found in current machines, including:

Vulnerable ports used to network machines together

Programming errors that allow execution of malware

Insecure or nonexistent cryptography

The groups demand the counties use a voting system that includes an auditable, voter-verifiable paper record of every vote that cannot be altered or otherwise affected by machine failure.

“Ensuring voters have access to reliable, secure voting machines is not only a national security issue but a constitutional requirement,” said Jamila Benkato, counsel for Protect Democracy. “Although time is tight, counties still have the opportunity to jettison outdated, insecure machines before the 2020 election.”

The letter was sent to the following counties:

Bee County

Brown County

Burnet County

Cass County

Fannin County

Fort Bend County

Galveston County

Grimes County

Hale County

Hardin County

Harris County

Hill County

Hood County

Howard County

Hunt County

Jim Wells County

Kendall County

Kerr County

Matagorda County

McLennan County

Montgomery County

Palo Pinto County

Upshur County

Webb County

Wharton County

Wichita County

Wise County

Wood County

Victoria County

A copy of the letter to counties using eSlate voting machines can be found here: https://www.aclutx.org/sites/default/files/letter_to_counties_using_eslate_voting_machines.pdf

A copy of the letter to counties using iVotronic voting machines can be found here: aclutx.org/sites/default/files/letter_to_counties_using_ivotronic_voting_machines.pdf