Hoping to make it easy for U.S. citizens abroad, especially military personnel and defense troops to cast ballots, dozens of states have set up online voting, however, the risk of hacking is high, Politico reports.
Battleground states such as Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada and North Carolina among 30 others have options of online voting for citizens living outside the U.S. Though state officials claim that the ballots will be counted fairly, concerns are being raised that online votes can't be completely secure.
"It's not something you would do with your Social Security number. You shouldn't do it with your ballot," Susannah Goodman, director of voting integrity at Common Cause, said.
While many states consider it as a matter of pride that Americans abroad and overseas troops can cast a ballot online, there are challenges that a huge controversy can be triggered, sometimes involving various nations like unproven meddling by Russian hackers.
What still remains a matter of concern is that there is no assurance that online votes won't be tampered with. "I honestly don't know how online votes are securely sent back to the U.S.," Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said. "It's concerning, honestly."
Another area of concern is voters returning the ballot with malware which exposes its privacy and makes it susceptible to manipulation in transit.
Raising cybersecurity concerns at a conference, Neil Jenkins, a top Department of Homeland Security staffer said, "While the convenience of being able to cast a ballot electronically may be appealing, the potential benefits do not outweigh the serious risks associated with online voting."
Meanwhile, officials from many states that have opted against using internet balloting told Politico that they preferred an analog approach for accepting the votes from overseas residents.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.