With Russian Cyberattacks in the 2016 U.S. Elections, and their repeated efforts to Sabotage the Upcoming Midterms, it is not unreasonable to suspect they will try to Attack Voting Machines.
A truly Alarming Report found that our Top Voting Machine Vendors installed Remote-Access Software and Modems in their Machines, which U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) called “the worst decision for security short of leaving ballot boxes on a Moscow street corner.”
With Elections run by Understaffed Departments at the State & Local Level, a successful Cyber-Attack is not implausible. That's yet another reason why Paper Ballots must be required in All Elections.
We need a safety Valve to ensure that our Democracy is not sabotaged.
Senator Wyden has Sponsored the Protecting American Votes and Elections Act of 2018 (S3049), which requires All Election Departments to provide a Paper Copy of each Ballot and to do a Statistically rigorous Check of Election Results to Ensure the Integrity of our Voting Machines.
Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR, 3rd District)), will introduce a House Companion to this Legislation.
Currently, 22 States do not Require any Post-Election Audits. Many other States merely require Recounts in a few Precincts.
Optical Scan Paper Ballots coupled with Risk-Limited Audits represent the State-of-the-Art in Voting System Security, an approach already in successful use in several States.
This Bill requires that All Election Bodies Audit every Federal Election, regardless of how close it is, by employing Statistically rigorous “Risk-Limiting Audits,” which deliver nearly the Same Level of Confidence in the Election Results as a Full Manual Recount, at a Fraction of the Cost.
Risk-Limiting Audits should be routinely conducted and reported in all Federal, most State-Wide, and at least a Sampling of other Governmental Election Contests. This Legislation requiring Post-Election Audits, will make U.S. Elections more Trustworthy. Further, because well-designed Risk-Limiting Audits often can confirm a Correct Electoral Outcome after examining only a Small Fraction of the Ballots Cast, they use Election Officials’ Time and Taxpayers’ Money Efficiently. As an additional Benefit, Routinely Conducted Risk-Limiting Audits provide a powerful Tool for Continuous Quality Improvement because they have the potential to identify the Kinds of Machines and Ballot Designs that lead to the fewest Errors.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
