Russian Hacking Attempts in…North Carolina?
A National Security Agency leaked document was released Tuesday that claims Russian spies infiltrated a voting machine company that is used in North Carolina and a few other states. Following this hacking, the Russian spies sent emails to several election officials in an attempt to obtain their login information. The NSA, however, is unclear if this hacking had any influence on the election results.
Local elections officials use the company’s software on Election Day to help check in voters who show up to cast ballots in person, Strach said. It is not used in counting votes.
VR Systems software is used in Durham County – where software glitches on Election Day caused delays, allegations of voter fraud and a monthlong recount after the election.
The Election Day troubles in Durham began when poll workers were unable to upload data from six cards that saved information from ballot tabulators. Data from five of the cards could not be uploaded to software because the number of votes per race exceeded the software’s memory limitation. A sixth card may have had a battery problem. Officials instead entered the information from the tabulators’ paper tapes.
Voters waited in long lines and eight precincts were allowed to stay open up to an hour after polls closed in the rest of the state.
Then-Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign called into question about 94,000 Durham County votes that came in late on Election Night.
A subsequent recount found no irregularities, leading McCrory to concede the election to Democrat Roy Cooper a month later.
