Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy examines the Challenges arising out of the 2016 Federal Election, Assesses Current Technology and Standards for Voting, and Recommends Steps that the Federal Government, State, and Local Governments, Election Administrators, and Vendors of Voting Technology should take to Improve the Security of Election Infrastructure. In doing so, the Report provides a Vision of Voting that is more Secure, Accessible, Reliable, and Verifiable.
Amid a chorus of Warnings that the American Election System is Ground Zero for Foreign Attackers, a Panel of Leading Scholars and Election Experts issued a sweeping set of Recommendations for how to make Elections more Secure. It carries a Blue-Ribbon Pedigree from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, but it also suggests ways to address Allegations of Domestic Voter Frauds.
The Report notes the Significant Challenges of Securing Elections. In 2016, Americans voted in 178,217 Precincts and 116,990 Polling Places. Under the Constitution, each State Controls its own Election Procedures, and Officials jealously Guard their Authority against Federal Interference. The Rules vary so wildly that Uniform Standards are almost Impossible.
Still, many of the Report’s Proposals can be applied Nationwide. Here are Six ways the Panel says that Election Security can be Improved:
1. Use Paper Ballots to Establish a Backup Record of Each Vote.
Even if Voter Databases and other Equipment aren’t Connected to the Internet, Experts said, it will be hard to Protect Computer Systems from Cyber Threats. As a result, they Recommend that by 2020, every Voting Machine Nationwide should Generate a Backup Paper Record of each Vote. This would provide a Record of each Ballot for Recounts and Audits.
2. Outlaw any Kind of Internet Voting, for Now.
Many States now Allow some Votes to be cast Online, usually by Armed Forces Members and other Americans Living Abroad. Twenty States and the District of Columbia let some Voters Submit Ballots by Email, rather than by Mail. But the Report Recommends an Outright Ban on Voting over the Internet, or via any Machines that are Connected to the Internet. For now, the Experts say, that is simply too Risky. That said, they also urge further Study into New Technologies, like Blockchain, that might make Electronic Voting more Secure. The Report says Election Officials and Vendors of Voting Equipment should be Required to Disclose to Federal and State Authorities All Attempts to Breach Security and any newly Discovered Vulnerabilities in Equipment, Software, and Databases.
3. Verify Election Results.
With Public Confidence in Elections Declining, the Panel said States should require Public, Transparent Audits of All Elections to Guarantee their Integrity, including Audits of Processes, like Voter Registration, preparing Ballots and Reporting of Results, that normally get little Scrutiny. The Audit Data, Scrubbed of any Private Voter Information, should be made Public so Outsiders can Verify the Results themselves.
Within a Decade, Federal and State Elections, and where possible, Local ones, should Undergo Risk-Limiting Audits, a Statistical Double-Check that is the Gold Standard of Vote Validation. And All Audits should be performed by Human Beings, not Machines, Counting Actual Paper Ballots, not Electronic Ones.
The Report calls for States to begin Developing “End-to-End Verifiable Voting Systems”, a Method that lets Voters Confirm that Election Equipment is working properly and that their Votes have been Accurately recorded. Pilot systems already exist, but they are too complicated for Voters to use; the Report calls for more Research to simplify them.
4. Crosscheck Voter Registrations Nationwide to Weed out Duplicates.
The Report urges All States to adopt some Method of Comparing their Registration Databases with those of other States to Eliminate Duplicates from Voters who have Moved. That would Eliminate instances in which Voters cast Ballots in Two Locations Undetected. Election Experts say that Accurate Matching systems would help pare State Voter Rolls, which are bloated by Voters who move but Fail to ask Election Officials in their Old Districts to Remove them. Twenty-Four States and the District of Columbia already Match Registration Databases via the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a Nonprofit Agency run by its Member States. But better Matching Methods are required to fix the Removal of Valid Voters.
5. Make Voting by Mail more Secure.
Voting by Mail is now rapidly gaining Popularity. But Mailed-In and Absentee Ballots are at Greater Risk of Theft, Forgery, and other kinds of Fraud. It’s easier, for example, to Buy Votes or Coerce someone into casting a Ballot by Mail than it would be in the Privacy of a Voting Booth. The Report urges All States to adopt a Tracking systems that let Voters easily Verify whether Ballots have been Mailed to them and whether Marked Ballots have been Received and Accepted by Election Offices, in Time to Correct any Problems. It also calls for the Development of New Technologies that could Counter Coercion, Vote-Buying, and other types of Fraud. To Combat Fraud at the Ballot Box, the Report urges a Host of Federal Agencies to Sponsor Research into Reliable ways of Verifying Voters’ Identities like Biometric Markers, Fingerprints and Iris Scans, for example.
6. Spend more to make Elections Trustworthy.
Again and again, the Report hammers home the Message that Federal and State Authorities Pinch Pennies when it comes to Protecting the Constitutional Right to Vote. The Experts call for “appropriate” Funding of the United States Election Assistance Commission (EAC), a little-known Advisory Body that plays a Crucial Role in Improving Election Administration.
If your are a Reader of this Blog, I have been recommending these types of changes for a long time.
The Report also urges Congress to allot more Money to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which helps develop Voluntary Security Guidelines for Voting Equipment, so that it can work on Security Standards for other Election Procedures and Equipment. And the Report asks Congress to Finance “a major initiative on voting” that would establish Academic Research Centers to Improve Election Technology and Administration.
Finally, the Experts urge Congress and the States to Create an Ongoing Stream of Money to Replace Worn-Out and Outdated Voting Equipment. The Last Major Federal Funding for Voting Equipment was approved in 2002, when Congress Passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to address Electoral Failures highlighted by the Contested 2000 Presidential Election.
CLICK HERE to read the 160 page Report.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
