NPR

Cyber Experts Warn Of Vulnerabilities Facing 2020 Election Machines

America's elections infrastructure is more secure than it was four years ago, but many lingering weaknesses won't be resolved in time for Election Day next year.
Voters cast their ballots at a polling station set up at Grady High School for the mid-term elections last November in Atlanta, Georgia. Georgia is set to replace all of its voting machines, which cybersecurity experts had deemed insecure, before the 2020 elections.

A group of guys are starring into a laptop, exchanging excited giggles. Every couple minutes there's an "oooooh" that morphs into an expectant hush.

The Las Vegas scene seems more like a college dorm party than a deep dive into the democratic process.

Cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon are being tossed around. One is cracked open and spews foam all over a computer keyboard.

"That's a new vulnerability!" someone yells.

The laptop that's drawing the most attention in this moment is plugged into a voting machine that was used just last year in Virginia.

"Right now, we're trying to develop a way to remotely control the voting machine," said a hacker named Alex.

He's seated next to Ryan, and like a lot of the hackers at the Defcon conference, they didn't feel

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