Senate Official Claims Foreign Adversaries Can Access U.S. Voting Machines

Mullin’s remarks echo former President Donald Trump’s narrative about election interference. The Department of Homeland Security declined to provide additional details and redirected inquiries to the White House. While non-citizen voting in federal elections is rare, Mullin’s claim focuses on the hardware security of voting equipment rather than voter eligibility.

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Computer-science professor J. Halderman’s 2006 academic analysis demonstrated the ability to reprogram machines to alter outcomes, and a 2021 Georgia court case simulated a ballot-printer attack, though experts deemed the scenario unrealistic. Princeton professor emeritus Andrew Appel** observes that modern machines are more secure than early-2000 models, and that remaining flaws are why many states rely on hand-marked paper ballots for auditability. A 2024 National Intelligence Council assessment, released after the November 2024 election, confirms that voting machines are typically offline and not network-connected.

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Federal intelligence agencies reported in 2021 that they found no proof of foreign actors attempting to manipulate the 2020 election. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s 2019 report highlighted experimental hacks performed at a security conference, noting those exploits required physical access to the machines—access that election officials tightly control through locked storage, video surveillance, and chain-of-custody logs.

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• “We know for sure that our foreign adversaries, not our allies, foreign adversaries have parts that are vital pieces in our voting machines,” — Markwayne Mullin, homeland security secretary

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• “We know that they can change voter registration and your vote. We know it's possible. There's not a question. It's not even for debate.” — Department

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• “It's important to note that there's no evidence that voting machine vulnerabilities have ever been used to attack a real U.S. election, and of course the existence of vulnerabilities does not mean those vulnerabilities will imminently be exploited,” — J. Alex Halderman, University of Michigan computer science and engineering professor

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• “If you leave the keys in an unlocked car and you're surprised I can drive away in it, that's not a measure of the car's security,” — Tammy Patrick, a former Maricopa County, Arizona, elections administrator

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