Sharing the Facts About Voting Machines

Voting machines are a key part of our carefully designed, decentralized election ecosystem, with built-in safeguards that include physical security, post-election audits, and bipartisan oversight. The reliability of voting machines is one reason why local and state officials—Republicans and Democrats alike—repeatedly confirm our elections are secure and accurate, even after extensive reviews and recounts.

Voting machines are used with several layers of security. First, all voting machines go through multiple, independent certification processes before they’re used. Second, physical access to the equipment is carefully controlled; only authorized people have access to them. Third, the equipment is tested for accuracy, often in public, before every election. Finally, virtually every election is conducted with paper ballots, which allows election officials to look at the paper record to verify the results of voting machines. This paper trail is used in audits and full recounts in close elections.

Despite these safeguards, anti-democracy actors have pushed falsehoods about voting machines for years, claiming they are not trustworthy. Now, many of those actors are influencing federal policy.

President Trump has attempted to claim more control over the use of voting machines through an executive order directing states to adopt new voting equipment standards. A federal judge blocked the order, but federal officials continue to claim there are widespread vulnerabilities in voting machines—citing old, debunked, unsubstantiated allegations rooted in conspiracy theories. State leaders are concerned that the Trump administration is attacking public trust in systems that routinely undergo rigorous, state-mandated audits and testing as a way to undermine our elections.

Americans see that election laws and professionals have created an election system with built-in safeguards, and States United polling shows they continue to trust that voting machines produce free, fair, and secure elections. But following the FBI raid of election materials in Fulton County, Georgia, the public is also concerned about the seizure of voting machines during the 2026 midterms.

Here are some key takeaways about the security of voting machines:

• Americans care about an accurate vote count. That’s why we’ve trusted machines to count votes for more than a century. Voting machines are tested, certified, and accurate.
  • Modern vote-counting systems are accurate and secure. They are subject to extensive security protections and accuracy checks. Election equipment is kept in secure locations year-round.
  • Election machines must go through a complex multi-year process overseen by many people to meet strict requirements before they are certified for use in an election.
  • Before every single election, voting machines are also tested thoroughly in front of bipartisan observers.
  • While people are voting, poll workers and election observers watch onsite and can take reports from any individual voter who experiences issues with equipment.
  • After voting, the accuracy of machine tallies is confirmed via audits or recounts in close elections.
• Voters continue to be confident that election equipment produces fast and accurate results.
  • States United polling shows high levels of trust in several counting methods commonly used throughout the country. Trust is high for counting votes electronically, for using machines to scan paper ballots, and for scanning paper ballots along with a partial hand count for verification.
  • Voters know this equipment is reliable and accurate because of built-in safeguards, professional election administrations, and laws that ensure the accuracy and speed of results.
• Any action by the Trump administration that would ban or seize voting machines nationwide would be illegal.
  • The Constitution gives states the power to run the voting process. The president’s only job in elections is to run for office. It should concern all Americans that the president is trying to change the way elections operate by himself.
  • Replacing voting machines with other election equipment would be prohibitively expensive to state taxpayers and chaotic for election workers.
• Our elections are free, fair, and secure.
  • Our elections are run by state and local election officials who know their communities and voters’ needs best.
  • Election equipment has been tested and certified by election officials from across the political spectrum.
  • Efforts to ban voting machines are meant to chip away at the longstanding public trust in the election process.
  • This pressure campaign places election officials in an untenable position: comply with unprecedented demands or risk legal and political retaliation.
  • When disproven claims shape federal action, it diverts attention from real challenges, erodes trust in credible institutions, and risks normalizing the use of misinformation as a basis for governing.