Feds to finally examine 2016 NC poll books for hacking

By EMERY P. DALESIO and FRANK BAJAK
June 6, 2019

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — More than two years after voter check-in software failed on Election Day in a North Carolina county, federal authorities will finally conduct a forensic analysis of electronic poll books to see if Russian military hackers who targeted the software provider may have tampered with registration information to disrupt voting.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security analysis of laptops used in Durham County is the first known federal probe of voting technology that malfunctioned during the 2016 election, when Russian hackers infiltrated election systems in several states, part of what special counsel Robert Mueller said was an effort to favor Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

The malfunction of VR Systems’ electronic poll book software forced officials in the heavily Democratic county to switch to paper registration records and extend voting hours. How many voters may have been disenfranchised as a result is unknown.

State election officials seized for evidence 21 laptops used to check in Durham County voters for the 2016 balloting shortly after the leak of a National Security Agency report revealed in mid-2017 that VR Systems had been targeted by a Russian spear-phishing campaign, said Josh Lawson, who was general counsel of the North Carolina board of elections at the time.

-snip-