As explained in this article by Princeton University professor Andrew Appel, all voting machines — including Direct Record Electronic (“DRE”) devices, ballot-marking devices (“BMDs”), and optical scanners — can be hacked through the internet, even if the voting machine itself isn't connected to it. read more
Most voting machines are never plugged directly into the Internet. But all voting machines must accept electronic input files from other computers: these “ballot definition files” tell the vote-counting program which candidates are on the ballot. read more
While states no longer use voting machines that connect directly to the internet, and therefore can’t be hacked in the same way your laptop can, any sophisticated ne’er-do-well with physical access to an electronic voting machine could easily rewrite its software to change the way that votes are counted or tabulated, according to a recent report by the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology. read more