A study by the Brennan Center for Justice finds 41 states are using voting machines with antiquated technology and security protections.
According to the study, which was first published in 2015, many municipalities did not address the issue of out-of-date machines and won’t have new ones in place in time for the 2020 General Election.
The issue of election security arose following the 2016 general election in which President Donald Trump won the White House. Following the election, Green Party candidate Jill Stein prompted Wisconsin election officials to hold a recount, prompting then Governor Scott Walker to rewrite recount stipulations statewide.
Among the municipalities not working with outdated technology, the City of Milwaukee, which Elections Commissioner Neil Albrecht says were upgraded in 2015 and were first used during the 2016 election cycle.
The cost of upgrading machines can skyrocket into the millions-of-dollars range, especially if states exclusively use digital technology. Albrecht says it cost Milwaukee more than one million dollars to update all of its precincts in 2015. Nationwide figures and data can be found here.