Matt BlazeNov 21, 2022

Those who follow me on The Bad Place have heard me repeat this a thousand times, but once more won't hurt.

Election security is incredibly complex, full of seemingly impossible tradeoffs. But disinformation about supposed "rigged" elections is perhaps the most serious threat to election integrity today.

The best defense is to learn how elections actualy work! Becoming a poll worker is a great way to do that

Also, this National Academies study is a terrific resource:

https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25120/securing-the-vote-protecting-american-democracy

Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy

Read online, download a free PDF, or order a copy in print or as an eBook.

The National Academies Press
Show threadMatt BlazeNov 21, 2022

Also, any serious discussion of election security has to grapple with two simultaneous realities:

- there's no evidence that any US election outcome has ever been altered by hacking

- there are real, exploitable vulnerabilities in many parts of our election infrastructure

I've written a bit on what these vulnerabilities are and how to fix them, See, e.g., this brief article:
https://georgetownlawtechreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/4.2-p505-522-Blaze.pdf

Show threadSteven BodzinNov 21, 2022
@mattblaze I find it pretty funny how much money and energy goes into worrying about the phantom menace of election hacking while nobody does anything about the obvious, well documented problem of election manipulation by big dark money (including undisclosed foreign donors). Sealing up every tiny draft around the windows while the front door is wide open.
Show threadMatt Blaze

@guacamayan They're different problems, with different kinds of solutions. We can address both. It's like asking why we worry about aviation safety when car crashes cost more lives.

Making voting more secure has important benefits. Aside from preventing and deterring actual fraud (which has been so far, fortunately, rare), it also makes it more difficult for losers to falsely claim elections were stolen from them (currently a big problem).

Nov 21, 2022 at 4:56pmWeb
Show threadSteven BodzinJan 13, 2023
@mattblaze i don't think that's ever been a major problem before. It's a problem now because people have developed a catastrophic approach to everything, as if every little thing were high-stakes. I suspect this is from OD'ing on news, as we in the business need to create drama out of mundane situations.