Midterm voting exposes growing problem of aging machines

ATLANTA (AP) — Election experts have long warned about the nation's aging fleet of voting equipment. This week's elections underscored just how badly upgrades are needed.

Across the country, reports poured in Tuesday amid heavy voter turnout of equipment failing or malfunctioning.

Scanners used to record ballots broke down in New York City. Voting machines stalled or stopped working in Detroit. Electronic poll books used to check in voters failed in Georgia.

Voting experts had hoped the threat of foreign governments meddling in U.S. elections would prompt action to upgrade election machinery.

But two years before the 2020 presidential election, 41 states are still using machines that were manufactured more than a decade ago and a dozen states are using at least some electronic machines that produce no paper trail.