S6 E28: Voting Machines & Stupid Watergate II: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Vindman’s Testimony and Trump’s Defense

• Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a US National Security official, testified before Congress about President Trump's incriminating phone call with the president of Ukraine, providing a damning account that contradicts Trump's claims of "no quid pro quo" (55s).
• Some of Trump's defenders attempted to smear Vindman by pointing out that he was born in Ukraine, but this claim is baseless and despicable, especially considering Vindman's credentials as a war veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart for his service in Iraq (1m7s).
• Vindman's patriotism was also endorsed by Ken Burns, who tweeted a clip of Vindman as a child appearing in a film about the Statue of Liberty and what it means to generations of immigrants (2m7s).
• House Democrats moved to formalize the impeachment inquiry process and set rules for its public phase, which was met with fierce objections from Republicans, including Steve Scalise, who used an ill-advised visual aid comparing the process to "Soviet-style rules" (3m9s).
• Scalise's comparison inadvertently reminded viewers of another possibly impeachable Trump conduct, and his argument was joined by House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, who attempted to denounce the Democrats with Churchillian rhetoric but failed to deliver a convincing performance (4m5s).

Impeachment Inquiry Process

• The impeachment inquiry process was formalized with a vote in the House, taking away another major argument against the inquiry that it hadn't been authorized by a full vote in the House (3m7s).
• When casting a vote, it's essential to consider the implications and be prepared to answer questions from historians about the decision, as it will be a part of history (4m28s).
• Kevin McCarthy's speech was not written down, and he improvised, which might be a sign of desperation, especially considering Trump's idea to articulate his defense through a phone call (5m7s).
• Trump suggested reading the transcript of the call on live television, but this might not be a good idea, as the call summary is damning, and Trump has a short attention span (5m26s).

Trump’s "Witch Hunt" Merchandise

• Despite the mounting evidence against him, Trump insists that this is the greatest Witch Hunt in American history and is selling "Stop The Witch Hunt" t-shirts on his campaign website (6m17s).
• The t-shirt design appears to be a modified poster from the 1993 film Hocus Pocus, with Representatives Pelosi, Schiff, and Nadler's faces replacing the witches, and Trump depicted as a flying superhero (6m35s).
• The product description is confusing, stating that the witches (Pelosi, Schiff, and Nadler) are scared, despite being the hunters in the Witch Hunt scenario (7m14s).

Media Criticism and Election Concerns

• MSNBC's Nicole Wallace criticized the President for lying, which could undermine his brand and make him appear dishonest (8m3s).
• The Wall Street Journal has also turned against Trump, which is a significant problem for him (8m22s).
• The upcoming elections on Tuesday may include voting for governors, state legislatures, or city controllers, depending on the location, and it's essential to consider the trustworthiness of the system that counts the ballots (9m31s).
• Many people are unaware of how their votes get counted, and when asked, they often rely on assumptions that the system will work correctly (9m59s).
• A conversation with an individual highlights the lack of knowledge about the voting process, with the person admitting to not knowing how their vote is recorded or counted (10m17s).

Voting System Vulnerabilities

• The vulnerability of voting systems to hacking is a concern, especially after the 2016 Russian hacking of election systems in all 50 states, which targeted voter registration data (11m20s).
• Local officials have claimed that voting machines are secure, but this claim is disputed, and a senate report found that some voting equipment is aging and vulnerable to exploitation (12m8s).
• There is no single standard voting system in the United States, which may contribute to the concerns about election security (12m20s).
• In the United States, voting processes vary, with some places using paper ballots, others using a combination of buttons and printouts, and others using touch screens, with the latter being considered the worst option for reasons to be discussed later (12m22s).

History of Electronic Voting Machines

• The widespread use of electronic voting machines is largely due to the 2000 presidential election, which was decided by just over 500 votes in Florida, triggering a recount that was complicated by the use of punch card ballots (12m45s).
• Punch card ballots had issues with "chads," or small pieces of paper that might not have been punched all the way through, leading to confusion and controversy (13m11s).
• The 2000 election debacle led to the passage of the Help America Vote Act in 2002, which provided $3.9 billion to states to administer federal elections and purchase new voting equipment (13m59s).
• However, the chair of the Election Assistance Commission at the time realized that the equipment was not ready to be purchased, and the commission was forced to distribute the funds despite this (14m13s).
• The politicians involved in the decision-making process were aware that the machines were not ready, but they chose to proceed anyway, using faulty logic to justify their decision (14m34s).
• As a result, states rushed to buy electronic voting machines before they were ready, and there were already red flags, including a machine in Iowa that produced 4 million votes from 300 ballots (15m26s).

Quality Control Issues with Voting Machines

• At least one company outsourced production of the machines, and quality controls were sometimes non-existent, with one worker claiming that thousands of machines were shipped to the United States with virtually no testing done on them (15m49s).
• The quality control tests that were performed were often inadequate, including a "vibration test" that involved shaking the machine (15m59s).
• A 2007 video clip shows that shaking a voting machine can cause it to record a vote for a different candidate, and many machines from that time are still in use today, posing a problem due to aging and potential malfunction (16m22s).
• Over time, the glue holding the touchscreen can degrade, causing the screen to slip out of place and register votes incorrectly, and this issue has been found in some counties (16m39s).

Voting Machine Hacking

• Voting machines can be hacked, as demonstrated by a hacker who gained full admin access to a machine currently used in at least 18 states in under 2 minutes (17m3s).
• The hacker was able to access the machine by opening it up, removing the card reader, unplugging it, and picking the lock with a ballpoint pen (17m10s).
• Hacking into a voting machine should be at least as difficult as breaking into Fort Knox, but currently, it is relatively easy (17m57s).
• Hackers often find vulnerabilities in voting machines, and a Finnish man named Harry Hursti once discovered a severe security flaw in a voting system (18m31s).
• The company that made the machine created a patch to fix the vulnerability, but the state of Georgia did not install it, leaving their machines unupdated since at least 2005 (18m45s).
• Election systems in Georgia operate at a low level of technical proficiency, similar to an outdated laptop (19m6s).
• Voting machine companies and election officials claim that hacks are difficult to perform in actual booths without being noticed, but it is not always as difficult to get alone time with a machine as they claim (19m30s).
• Professor Ed Felton of Princeton documents unattended voting machines on election day, showing that anyone can walk up to these machines and manipulate them without being detected (19m50s).
• Voting machines can be hacked even if they are not directly connected to the internet, as some machines are programmed with cards that have been programmed on computers connected to the internet (20m27s).
• Election officials often claim that their voting machines are not connected to the internet, but some machines do connect to the internet, and even those that don't can be vulnerable to hacking (20m39s).
• Stan Stanart, the former clerk for the largest county in Texas, claimed that Harris County voting machines were not connected to the internet, but when asked for clarification, he described a system that is essentially an internet connection (21m49s).
• Some voting machines may connect to the internet through a secure modem or landline, but this does not necessarily make them secure (21m56s).

Solutions for Secure Elections

• Every voting machine can be tampered with in some way, and the solution is not to make unhackable machines, but to make them as secure as possible and create systems to detect problems (22m58s).
• There is a risk that Russia may try to exploit vulnerabilities in the US voting system, as alleged by Robert Mueller (23m21s).
• A risk-limiting audit, which involves checking a small percentage of paper ballots to ensure they match the machine recordings, is a recommended solution to increase the security of elections (24m1s).
• Unfortunately, most places do not currently conduct risk-limiting audits, and some cannot because they use machines that do not produce paper ballots (24m16s).

Paperless Voting Machines and Their Flaws

• Direct Record Electronic (DRE) voting machines, also known as paperless voting machines, are used in some US elections, allowing voters to cast their votes directly on the machine without a paper trail. (24m22s)
• These machines are considered flawed, as if something goes wrong, it would be difficult to audit the results and determine the actual outcome of the election. (24m32s)
• An example of a malfunctioning DRE machine occurred in a local New Jersey election, where a husband and wife running for seats on their County's Democratic committee were incorrectly reported as losing, despite knowing that they had received more votes. (24m41s)
• The couple was able to verify the results by collecting signed affidavits from people who had voted for them, but this is not a reliable method for verifying election results. (25m20s)
• In 2016, 20% of voters used paperless DRE machines, and an estimated 12% were expected to use them in the 2020 election, which could have affected the outcome of the election if the machines malfunctioned. (26m10s)

Funding for Secure Voting Machines

• Many experts agree that having a paper backup system for voting is essential, and some states have implemented this system. (26m43s)
• The House of Representatives approved $600 million in funding for states to purchase new voting machines with paper trails and mandatory audits, but the Senate's plan provides less funding and does not require paper trails or audits. (27m26s)
• A quote from The Newsroom was mentioned, which is fitting for the current situation, and a greeting of "Happy Halloween" was given, despite the presence of snow that morning (28m28s).

Closing Remarks and Weather/Traffic Update

• The weather forecast for the day was discussed, mentioning that the fire danger was finally getting lower (28m40s).
• The road conditions were also mentioned, with extra effort required to fight through puddles and spray coming off vehicles on the interstate (28m47s).
• A crash was reported on interstate 275, causing a delay (28m52s).
• The segment ended with a closing message, thanking viewers for watching and bidding them farewell until the next week (29m6s).