Some West Virginians serving overseas will be able to vote in the midterms by using an app on their mobile phones, CNN is reporting.
West Virginia will become the first in the country to permit voting by a smartphone app, the news network reported. It will be limited to service personnel living abroad, CNN noted.
But some election integrity experts are voicing concern about the plan as U.S. officials continue to grapple over Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats had said last week that Russia is behind a “pervasive messaging campaign” to undermine the November congressional elections and the 2020 presidential election.
But West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner and Voatz, the company that developed maintain the app is secure, CNN noted. Those using it will have to first register by taking a photo of their government identification and a video of their face. They can only cast their ballot once the information is uploaded and approved.
The service personnel can cast paper ballots if they so desire.
"There is nobody that deserves the right to vote any more than the guys that are out there, and the women that are out there, putting their lives on the line for us," Warner said.
The state tested the app in two counties during the primary elections earlier this year and reported no problems, CNN said. However, election officials have left a final decision on its use in November up to each county in the state.
"Mobile voting is a horrific idea," Joseph Lorenzo Hall, the chief technologist at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said. "It's internet voting on people's horribly secured devices, over our horrible networks, to servers that are very difficult to secure without a physical paper record of the vote."
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