[BiglyCommentary]

There's no functional need for a voting machine to be connected to the Internet.

Not exactly true. An honest manufacturer would love to have that functionality to do software updates remotely to thousands of machines, debug problems/issues while some election entity is testing new ballot layouts, troubleshoot issues when the election worker clicks button X and something blows up. Sending people onsite is extremely expensive. The problem is regardless of those convenience advantages, their are just way to many possibilities for mischief so you have to JUST SAY NO, and keep that door closed.

[Technical]

Not exactly true. An honest manufacturer would love to have that functionality to do software updates remotely to thousands of machines, debug problems/issues while some election entity is testing new ballot layouts, troubleshoot issues when the election worker clicks button X and something blows up.

I agree. Connectivity would be nice to have, but the security implications make the convenience of remote maintenance/data synching unacceptable.

The problem is regardless of those convenience advantages, their are just way to many possibilities for mischief so you have to JUST SAY NO, and keep that door closed.

Well, exactly. I work in the healthcare field, and when troubleshooting issues it would be great to email the raw data across the Internet. Even with email encryption we don't do that, because of concern over HIPAA. People thinking that voting machines are connected to the Internet don't work in tech.