44.6 million voters used equipment over 10 years old in 2024, and counties cannot budget for replacements because no sustained federal funding exists

In the November 2024 election, 44.6 million registered voters lived in jurisdictions using principal voting equipment that was first fielded more than 10 years ago. The expected lifespan of electronic voting machine core components is 10-20 years, and experts say most systems are closer to the 10-year end. Some counties are still running equipment purchased in the early 2000s—machines whose processors, memory, and operating systems are two decades behind current technology. Replacing all in-person voting equipment first fielded in 2014 or earlier would cost approximately $203 million nationally; replacing equipment that is no longer even manufactured costs another $150 million. The real pain is not just that the machines are old—it is what happens when they fail. Aging touchscreens become unresponsive, causing longer wait times at the polls. Thermal printers jam. Battery backups degrade, making machines vulnerable to power interruptions. Memory card readers fail mid-count. When a machine breaks on Election Day, there is often no spare available because the manufacturer discontinued that model years ago. The county clerk scrambles to consolidate voters onto fewer machines, lines grow, and some voters leave without voting. In a close local race, a few hundred voters who gave up in line can change the outcome. This problem persists because there is no sustained federal funding mechanism for election infrastructure. The last major federal investment was the $380 million in HAVA grants in 2018, and before that, the 2002 HAVA appropriation. Election officials cannot plan multi-year equipment replacement cycles because they never know if or when federal money will arrive. County budgets, meanwhile, are competing election equipment against road repairs, law enforcement, and public health—and a $3 million voting system replacement in a county with a $50 million total budget is a massive capital expenditure that requires years of political will to approve. So the machines keep aging.