Election tampering concerns sparks security increase at polls

Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018

News 12 @ 6 o'clock

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- Cheryl Eldridge says she's voted in ever election since she turned 18 years old.

"My grandmother kept enticing us and kept encouraging us because she didn't really have the right to vote years and years ago," Eldridge said.

She was one of the hundreds of people in line today to early vote. In fact, 767 people voted today total. More than last year, where about 500 people showed up to Sunday early voting.

Cheryl says it takes more than showing up for the big races.

"I vote when there's a general election, when there's primaries, when there's special elections, I exercise my right to vote," Eldridge said.

But even though the polls were busy locally, cyber officials say there's a bigger problem nationally.

"If there is a mistake on a machine, will it be caught?"

Unisys surveyed 13,000 people around the world about voter security. Results show that 86% of people were concerned about election tampering. 1 out of 5 of those people say that because of that concern, they will not or are unlikely to vote in the 2018 midterm election.

"That's something we just cannot ignore," Tom Patterson, Chief Trust Officer at Unisys said. "Even though the government and the department of homeland security and the states have done a lot over the past couple years to try and alleviate those fears, add in security, security monitoring, that word has not gotten back to every voter out there."

Right here in Augusta there's security monitoring the polls.

"This vote is going to be the most heavily monitored from a security stand point than any vote in history," Patterson said.

To ensure that your vote matters.