The Blue Ribbon Commission on Pennsylvania's Election Security has announced that they are recommending the replacement of voting machines across the state to assure the integrity of elections.

According to a press release, after a five-month study of Pennsylvania's election security needs, the commission sent out a set of interim recommendations advising immediate actions by state and federal legislatures.
 
"This is not a partisan issue," McNulty, a former U.S. Deputy Attorney General, said in a press release. "We must not leave our elections - and therefore our democracy - at risk of cyber attack. There is no question that Pennsylvania's outdated voting machines must be addressed."
 
"The vast majority of Pennsylvania's voting machines are vulnerable to electronic manipulation and have no paper back-ups to ensure the integrity of elections. Giving voters in Pennsylvania and across the country access to trustworthy equipment is a civic duty of the highest priority," said David Hickton, commission co-chair. 

Hickton is the founding director of the University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security.
 
The press release informs that the commission was convened earlier this by McNulty and Hickton with support from The Heinz Endowments and the Charles H. Spang Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation.
 
The committee's goal stated in the press release is to assess the cybersecurity of Pennsylvania's election architecture, including voting machines and back-end systems, registration systems and resiliency and recovery in the instance of a cyber attack.
 
According to the release, a full report of findings will be released early next year, but the commission released key recommendations Tuesday - including a call to replace vulnerable machines for the 2019 election and for the General Assembly and the federal government to help fund the replacement.