Machines that open with a screwdriver
A voting machine should be physically hard to open and obviously broken if someone tries. Where the rules don't require that, the case can be opened and the insides reached in minutes.
Explainer video coming soon
A 60-second, plain-language walkthrough of this gap.
What actually happened
In a 2010 study, researchers led by Hari Prasad and J. Alex Halderman examined a real Indian electronic voting machine and showed its hardware could be physically attacked — including replacing a part to alter results — illustrating how weak physical protection turns brief access into a real threat.
Where it stands today
India still runs its national elections on EVMs today, so this is not a retired-equipment story — and the underlying physical-access risk applies anywhere hardware-tamper standards are weak. The figure above reflects current election law, not the 2010 study.
A safe, or a lunchbox?
A good safe is hard to open and shows it if someone tries. A lunchbox isn't. A voting machine should be the safe.
A hardware tamper standard is the rule that requires it — strong enclosures, seals, and sensors that make intrusion obvious. Most jurisdictions have one. But where it's weak or absent, the case can be opened and the internals reached in minutes — and these machines spend long stretches in storage and transit, where brief unsupervised access is realistic.
Why it matters
Researchers examining a real voting machine showed its hardware could be physically attacked, including swapping a part to change results. The point isn't that this happens everywhere — it's that without strong physical protection, a few unguarded minutes become a real threat.
How TrustVoting closes it
Tamper-evident seals plus a hardware security module, and any physical intrusion trips an irreversible quarantine — the machine refuses to operate, so tampering cannot go unnoticed.
How TrustVoting closes it
TrustVoting hardware uses tamper-evident seals and a hardware security module, and any physical intrusion trips an irreversible quarantine state — so tampering can't go unnoticed.