Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) have sent a letter to U.S. voting machine manufacturers, asking if they allow Russian customers to review the source code of their products. It was sent to Election Systems & Software, Dominion Voting Systems, and Hart Intercivic.
The senators express concern that giving the Russian government access to this source code – like companies such as Cisco, IBM, and SAP sometimes do with their commercial products – could make the equipment used in American elections more vulnerable to hacking.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) recently sent a second letter to ES&S asking them to confirm or deny reports of remote-access software that is either pre-installed on their products, or that ES&SÂ recommends election officials to install.
The specific questions posed by Klobuchar and Shaheen are:
- Have you shared your source code or any other sensitive data related to your voting machines or other products with any Russian entity?
- To your knowledge, has any of the software that runs on your products been shared with any Russian entity?
- What steps have you taken or will you take in order to upgrade existing technologies in light of the increased threat against our elections?