Who What Why: The big-ticket races in Georgia, which drew national attention, have been decided — but the battle over the controversial way the state runs its elections rages on. A lawsuit contesting the outcome of the lieutenant governor’s race could provide … Continue reading
Category Archives: voting technology
BuzzFeed: Right before the election, Brian Kemp, at the time Georgia’s secretary of state and the Republican candidate for governor, announced an investigation into state Democrats, claiming they’d hacked him. He said he’d alerted federal authorities. Now, more than two … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
NYT deep dive. … Continue reading
Jennifer Cohn in NYRB. … Continue reading
Politico reports. … Continue reading
Derek Muller at the HLR Blog. … Continue reading
Release: Tonight, the Texas Civil Rights Project (“TCRP”) sent a letter to the Secretary of State asking that his office take immediate action to inform Texans regarding the straight-ticket voting issues on the Hart eSlate voting machines. The letter asks … Continue reading
John Fortier in Roll Call: Don’t let worries about election security keep you from going to the polls. The American voting system is in a better place than it has ever been, and added layers of protection ensure that votes … Continue reading
Andrew Appel blogs. … Continue reading
Larry Schwartztol oped in The Hill. … Continue reading
Release: Today, leading experts in the field of election security released a report outlining the serious and unaddressed threat to the integrity of the nation’s elections and democracy posed by the continued use of online voting in 32 states. The … Continue reading
William Roberts has this article in Washington Lawyer. … Continue reading
BREAKING: Federal judge in Atlanta denies motion for preliminary injunction to force the state of Georgia to switch to paper ballots for the 2018 midterms. But Judge Totenberg warned the state "further delay is not tolerable" in confronting election … Continue reading
Jamila Benkato blogs. … Continue reading
WaPo: Logan Lamb, a cybersecurity sleuth, thought he was conducting an innocuous Google search to pull up information on Georgia’s centralized system for conducting elections. He was taken aback when the query turned up a file with a list of voters and … Continue reading
Andrew Appel blogs. … Continue reading
The State Board’s unanimous decision pertains to the subject of an ongoing lawsuit as well. Independent of the merits, it’s awfully close to the election to be making a statewide change of this magnitude. … Continue reading
McClatchy reports. … Continue reading
BBC News reports. … Continue reading
Kim Zetter for Politico. … Continue reading
Release: Common Cause, the National Election Defense Coalition and Protect Democracy today filed an Amicus Curiae brief in support of all plaintiffs in the Curling v. Kemp lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The … Continue reading
At RCP, Phil Stupak writes: As our nation focuses on election security, an errant notion has emerged that paper-only balloting is some kind of panacea against potential threats. While it is vital to election security that we mandate the use … Continue reading
Available here. The indictment alleges a conspiracy to hack the systems of not only the DNC and Clinton campaign, but also election authorities. PBS: The indictment said two named defendants knowingly conspired to hack computers of U.S. “persons,” state agencies and … Continue reading
WaPo on yesterday’s hearings on both sides of Capitol Hill: “Momentum may finally be building in Congress to take new action to secure the elections from cyberthreats as the midterms approach.” Politico reports that: “The top Democrat on the Senate Rules Committee … Continue reading
The State. The complaint filed in federal district court alleges: In South Carolina, the capacity of the state’s election system to record and count votes reliably is deeply compromised by the state’s unnecessarily vulnerable voting system. Throughout the state, elections … Continue reading
Sacramento Bee: With increased attention to cybersecurity lately, California is making a sizable investment in its election infrastructure. This year’s state budget provides $134 million for counties to modernize voting systems. It also provides $3 million for the creation of … Continue reading
Steve Rosenfeld reports. … Continue reading
Upcoming event: Election Security War Game: Testing Critical Infrastructure Designation Election Law Program William & Mary Law School April 12, 2018 3:30-6:00, Room 119 Free and Open to the Public Virginia CLE Credit available On April 12, 2018, … Continue reading
Gizmodo: Voting machine manufacturer ES&S is facing new questions from a prominent US lawmaker regarding the security of its voting systems. Sen. Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, has asked ES&S to explain by March 30th whether its voting machines or … Continue reading
Michael Waldman for Politico Magazine. … Continue reading
Good news. … Continue reading
The UCI Cybersecurity and Research Institute is holding this event on March 13, with keynote James Carville. … Continue reading
Nice profile of Barbara and Verified Voting in the December Atlantic. … Continue reading
AP: A computer server crucial to a lawsuit against Georgia election officials was quietly wiped clean by its custodians just after the suit was filed, The Associated Press has learned. The server’s data was destroyed July 7 by technicians at … Continue reading
Details on Oct. 24 meeting. … Continue reading
Celeste Katz: It happened in Las Vegas, but the weaknesses in U.S. voting equipment uncovered during a summer hackathon are too important to stay there, experts say. They’re a matter of national security. A new report breaks down the lessons learned … Continue reading
Doug Chapin covers Brian Hancock on the local tip of the electoral cybersecurity spear. … Continue reading
Here’s a more optimistic assessment of electoral cybersecurity preparedness than yesterday’s version; it’s focused on the 28-member federal-state Election Critical Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council. … Continue reading
A Politico preview of the report coming tomorrow from the DEFCON hacker conference in July, about the security of voting machines. Voting system security is vitally important, and I wish that more attention were paid to the market for and … Continue reading
Fortune has a different scoop from the same report: Ethical hackers will team up with U.S. governors, academics and others to help prevent election results from being hacked, according to a person familiar with the plan. The coalition’s members include … Continue reading
An unfortunate Newsweek headline for an article about filling Homeland Security positions to assist with cyberdefense. The federal government could certainly play a role in assisting on cybersecurity matters, and probably should do so. But aside from the fact that … Continue reading
There have been a few efforts to supplement the existing voting system market with new systems, built more-or-less ground-up by counties with a blue-sky approach. The counties start with a list of attributes and functions rather than grafting new features … Continue reading
AJC reports. … Continue reading
WaPo: Concerned about potential hacking two months away from the state’s closely watched gubernatorial election, Virginia’s state Board of Elections voted Friday to replace any touchscreen voting machines before November’s elections. The three-member board voted unanimously to decertify Direct Recording … Continue reading
Good news via Politico: Virginia’s election office on Friday urged the state’s election supervisors to prohibit touchscreen voting machines before November’s elections, saying the devices posed unacceptable digital risks. If approved, the move would represent one of the most dramatic … Continue reading
Phys.org: Online attackers may be able to purchase – for as little as a few thousand dollars – enough personal information to potentially alter voter registration information in as many as 35 states and the District of Columbia, according to … Continue reading
Michael Chertoff oped in the WSJ: American voters received yet another rude awakening last month. Chicago’s Board of Elections reported that names, addresses, birth dates and other sensitive information about the city’s 1.8 million registered voters had been exposed on … Continue reading
Interview with Harri Hursti. … Continue reading
Austin American-Statesman: The manufacturer of the digital voting machines used across the state has filed suit in Travis County state District Court, seeking to block the Texas secretary of state from certifying rival machine makers whose devices produce a paper … Continue reading