A recent AP investigation discovered that the security of election systems across the US is significantly undermined by the fact that the overwhelming majority of election jurisdictions rely on outdated or soon-to-be outdated operating systems for creating ballots as well as processing and counting votes.
While many counties have updated their election systems to prevent hacking attacks, most of these systems still run on Windows 7, which will no longer be supported by Microsoft from January of 2020. This is a massive security risk, even though Microsoft has pledged to continue security updates for Windows 7 until 2023.
The AP discovered that the Windows 7 “end-of-life” issue affects various battleground states including Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Arizona and North Carolina. Michigan and Georgia are also impacted.
Read more: New Election Systems Use Vulnerable Software
