On Safe Voting Programs
Andrew Appel shepherded a public remark—signed by twenty election cybersecurity specialists, together with myself—on finest practices for poll marking gadgets and vote tabulation. It was written for the Pennsylvania legislature, nevertheless it’s basic in nature.
From the manager abstract:
We imagine that no system is ideal, with every having trade-offs. Hand-marked and hand-counted ballots take away the uncertainty launched by use of digital equipment and the power of dangerous actors to take advantage of digital vulnerabilities to remotely alter the outcomes. Nonetheless, some portion of voters mistakenly mark paper ballots in a fashion that won’t be counted in the best way the voter supposed, or which even voids the poll. Hand-counts delay well timed reporting of outcomes, and introduce the likelihood for human error, bias, or misinterpretation.
Know-how introduces the technique of environment friendly tabulation, but in addition introduces a manifold improve in complexity and class of the method. This locations the understanding of the method past the typical particular person’s understanding, which may foster mistrust. It additionally opens the door to human or machine error, in addition to exploitation by subtle and malicious actors.
Slightly than assert that every element of the method will be made completely safe by itself, we imagine the purpose of every element of the elections course of is to validate each different element.
Consequently, we imagine that the hallmarks of a dependable and optimum election course of are hand-marked paper ballots, that are optically scanned, individually and securely saved, and rigorously audited after the election however earlier than certification. We suggest state legislators undertake insurance policies per these guiding ideas, that are additional developed under.
Posted on March 26, 2024 at 7:08 AM •
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