WaPo: The federal government should start vetting companies that sell election systems as seriously as it does defense contractors and energy firms, a top election security group argues in a proposal out this morning.Under the proposal from New York University’s Brennan Center … Continue reading
Category Archives: voting technology
Bloomberg: Digital voting machines were promoted in the wake of a similarly chaotic scene 19 years ago: the infamous punch-card ballots and hanging chads of south Florida that tossed the presidential contest between George W. Bush and Al Gore into … Continue reading
WaPo: County election websites in two battleground states are highly vulnerable to hacking by Russia or another adversary that might seek to disrupt the 2020 vote by misleading voters about polling locations or spreading other false information. About 55 percent of county … Continue reading
Miles Parks for NPR. … Continue reading
Indy Star: An Indiana nonprofit has filed a federal complaint against the Indiana Election Commission and Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson over the state’s lack of voting machines that produce a paper trail.On Thursday, Indiana Vote by Mail and five Indiana … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
This is a good introduction to the issue, which has divided some voting rights and voting integrity folks. … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
CNN reports. … Continue reading
Carolina Public Press: North Carolina’s recent decision to certify new voting systems for use next year did not follow state law, according to a letter that a group of experts on election security and administration sent to the N.C. Board of Elections … Continue reading
WaPo: It’s not just a question of paper ballots. The offices charged with administering elections across the country are falling short on a slew of basic cybersecurity measures that could make the 2020 contest far more vulnerable to hacking, according to … Continue reading
Pam Fessler reports for NPR. … Continue reading
Not ready for prime time. … Continue reading
AJC: To find a clue about what might have gone wrong with Georgia’s election last fall, look no further than voting machine No. 3 at the Winterville Train Depot outside Athens.On machine No. 3, Republicans won every race. On each … Continue reading
Clarion Ledger: Voters who cast ballots for one party in the Aug. 6 primary may have improperly voted for a different party in Tuesday’s runoff due to machine malfunctions, according to the Hinds County GOP. Pete Perry, Hinds County Republican Party chairman, … Continue reading
Reuters: T he U.S. government plans to launch a program in roughly one month that narrowly focuses on protecting voter registration databases and systems ahead of the 2020 presidential election.These systems, which are widely used to validate the eligibility of … Continue reading
News and Observer: North Carolina elections officials upset a packed room of advocates for election security Friday, voting down a proposal to require stricter anti-hacking provisions in the 2020 elections and beyond.The State Board of Elections approved three new types … Continue reading
WaPo: A new voting system in Los Angeles County is about to super-charge a debate about the balance between the cybersecurity of election systems and accessibility for people with disabilities.The L.A. system, which was custom-built over roughly a decade for … Continue reading
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy blogs. … Continue reading
LA Times deep dive on Dean Logan. … Continue reading
You can find Judge Totenberg’s extensive and thoughtful opinion at this link. The court issued a preliminary injunction and the state could appeal to the Eleventh Circuit. But this opinion marshals a great deal of evidence as to the problems … Continue reading
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. … Continue reading
Brennan Center: In late July, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released its report on the Russian government’s attacks on America’s election infrastructure.[1] While the report offered dozens of recommendations related to vast and varied election systems in the United States … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
CNN: The top cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security said Friday that backup paper ballots would be a necessary part of 2020 election security.“Ultimately when I look at 2020, the top priority for me is engaging as far and wide as … Continue reading
Kim Zetter for Motherboard. … Continue reading
GPB: Georgia has awarded a massive contract to replace its outdated touchscreen direct-recording electronic voting machines to a new company offering ballot-marking devices with a paper component.Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Monday that Dominion Voting Systems will be the … Continue reading
Law.com: A group of Georgia voters and a nonprofit election integrity organization seeking to force the state to use paper rather than electronic ballots in future elections have accused the secretary of state and governor of destroying evidence in the … Continue reading
NYT: The Senate Intelligence Committee concluded Thursday that election systems in all 50 states were targeted by Russia in 2016, an effort more far-reaching than previously acknowledged and one largely undetected by the states and federal officials at the time.But … Continue reading
More on the appointment of Shelby Pierson, from the NYT, NPR, Reuters. … Continue reading
The AP on the nuts and bolts of trying to figure out the right amount of space to upgrade election technology in an unending election environment. … Continue reading
Shelby Pierson gets the nod for a new federal position to serve as the intelligence community’s principal advisor on election security. This bio fits the very general description in the DNI’s press statement, but I’ll confess I’m not sure if … Continue reading
The legislation passed the Senate yesterday, and now heads over to the House. … Continue reading
A WaPo article on a new Brennan Center report diving into how six states (Alabama, Arizona, Illinois, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania) used 2018 federal election security grants … and the need each has for much more. … Continue reading
Stateline focuses on a lot of questions about the plans for Iowa and Nevada caucuses. … Continue reading
NBC reports on two Microsoft announcements, summarized in this blog post. The headline is that Microsoft is giving away free, open source ElectionGuard software to election machine suppliers. According to the site, it apparently “enables” voting using a touchscreen for … Continue reading
The fight in Pennsylvania continues. … Continue reading
An important story in Washington State about the integration of county registration systems into a newer statewide system. It’s not important because it’s particularly new or surprising (it’s neither), but just as a reminder of the details to be ironed … Continue reading
The Hill reports on Sen. Ron Wyden’s questions of the EAC. Senator Wyden took to the floor yesterday to speak about the issue as well. … Continue reading
An interesting summary in Forbes of the bills on the table. … Continue reading
Mac Warner’s point is absolutely right: in 2016, the most meaningful system hacked was us. Humans were the most vulnerable link. And as for securing the non-human component, election officials know that there’s been an enormous amount of work done. … Continue reading
Slate says ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ … Continue reading
New this morning from the AP. A snippet: An Associated Press analysis has found that like many counties in Pennsylvania, the vast majority of 10,000 election jurisdictions nationwide use Windows 7 or an older operating system to create ballots, program … Continue reading
On Monday, Rick linked to an AP piece on 2020 Democratic caucus voting by phone in Iowa and Nevada. Steve Rosenfeld has some deeper dives today (Iowa, Nevada) on what may be brake-pumping at the DNC. … Continue reading
More from the AP. The subhead: “North Carolina election officials are learning that private equity firms which don’t disclose whose money they’re investing hold major stakes in voting-machine makers.” … Continue reading
AJC: The insides of Georgia’s voting system will be cracked open for inspection as part of a lawsuit alleging that the state’s elections are vulnerable to inaccuracies, malfunctions and hacking.U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg on Tuesday ordered election officials to allow computer … Continue reading
AP: The case of whether hackers may have tampered with elections in Georgia has taken another strange turn.Nearly two years ago, state lawyers in a closely watched election integrity lawsuit told the judge they intended to subpoena the FBI for … Continue reading
Important Greg Sargent interview with Sen. Wyden. … Continue reading
Sue Halpern must-read. … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading