Connecticut election officials say University of Connecticut specialists tested competing voting machines for security weaknesses before the state selected the equipment now used to count paper ballots.
The secretary of the state's office described the testing Oct. 22 in response to renewed White House claims about security risks from foreign-made components. The office acknowledges that the machines contain some foreign-made parts, including from China, but says that alone does not mean equipment has been compromised or votes can be changed remotely.
UConn's Voting Technology Research Center spent days trying to expose weaknesses in the equipment and its operating procedures. Its director, Alexander Russell, gave Election Systems & Software's hardware and software high marks, according to the state announcement.
Connecticut was preparing to invest $20 million in replacement equipment in 2024. About 2,500 new tabulators, the machines that read and count marked ballots, entered use for the 2025 municipal elections.
The office says the tabulators are not connected to the internet. Voters still mark paper ballots, which are retained for recounts and audits. Local officials conduct public tests before elections to check that machines count correctly, and post-election audits compare electronic totals with the paper ballots.
Sources: Connecticut Tried to Hack Its New Voting Machines Before Buying Them. Here's What Happened.