America’s Voting Technology Crisis
The cornerstone of democracy is the right to vote and have that vote count. But many of America’s voting machines are fraud-prone and failing to ensure the integrity of our elections.
Bad technology should never get in the way of exercising our rights. We identify some big problems with election technology today, and a hopeful path forward.
Paperless voting systems can be rigged and are often impossible to audit. They make recounts moot. They should be banned.
Electronic voting is prone to fraud by insiders and outsiders. Experts have found an incredible variety of vulnerabilities.
Voting machine software is kept hidden as a trade secret. In some cases election officials are not even allowed to evaluate it.
The privatization of American elections has resulted in bad security practices and dangerous cost cutting.
Voting machine certification does not include comprehensive security testing. This is a broken regulatory mechanism.
Partisan executives, companies, and officials have inappropriate control over voting technology and election administration.
Learn More
“What’s Wrong With Electronic Voting Machines?” Bruce Schneier, OpenDemocracy, November 2004.
“The Relative Merits of Openness in Voting Systems,” Peter G. Neumann, California Senate Elections Committee testimony, February 2006.
“The Dirty Little Secrets of Voting System Testing Labs,” Avi Rubin, Huffington Post, May 2011.