State Bans Touchscreen Voting Machines: Media Report

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A decision by the Virginia Board of Elections will force Fairfax City and 29 other local governments across Virginia to replace their voting machines.

The board voted Tuesday to decertify WINVote touchscreen voting machines, the Washington Post reported. Officials first learned of glitches with the machines when they malfunctioned in Spotsylvania County.

Voters in other parts of the commonwealth also complained about problems in using the WINVote machines in the November election, according to the Post.

During a public hearing on Tuesday, an official with the Fairfax City Electoral Board told the board he’s not convinced that the machines need to be decertified, the Post reported.

An independent laboratory and the Virginia Information Technology Agency found that the WINVote machines, which use a wireless Internet connection to tally votes, are prone to crashing and may be vulnerable to cyberattack, according to a state report released this month. Virginia is the only state where this model of machine is used.