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 threadHak Foo Nov 22, 2022

@mattblaze The thing I never got is why elections authorities are so drawn to touchscreen machines. Of all the imperfect solutions, it seems the most imperfect. What government agency willingly says "Please dump a convoluted IT hassle on me!"

Paper ballots have issues, but they do have the value of people understanding how the system works intuitively, which makes it a bit harder to sell a conspiracy.

Show threadJohn PanzerApr 27, 2023
@hakfoo @mattblaze Elections in the US are going to be a complicated logistical and IT hassle no matter what. Consider that you have to march up every voter with the right ballot races they are allowed to vote in, which can vary by precinct. And voter checkins have to be done securely — either by hand, by volunteers or temp workers, or by same assisted by computer… it’s not just a vendor sales job, there are real problems solved.
Show threadHak Foo Apr 27, 2023
@jpanzer @mattblaze The difficulty is evaluating the tradeoff-- a check-in computer or a printing touchscreen kiosk might improve throughput over a traditional signature log book and scantron style ballots, but they have more complex failure modes to deal with-- and it's harder to reassure people it's not a crisis when they happen. (i. e. the printer issues in the last Maricopa County election cycle)
Show threadYetAnotherGeekGuy Apr 7, 2024
@hakfoo @mattblaze @jpanzer
Also, there is no way to audit the vote with them. It’s trivial to have them show one thing to the voter and something else when reporting votes. How would you know? How would you ever prove it?
Show threadJohn PanzerApr 7, 2024

@YetAnotherGeekGuy @hakfoo @mattblaze So here we are taking only about the _checkin_ process. The _voting_ process is separate (and you can choose different combinations).

I am a fan of having hand marked paper ballots as an option for voters, as they eliminate the specific concern you mention.

Show threadCykonotJul 12, 2024
@jpanzer @YetAnotherGeekGuy @hakfoo @mattblaze they do not eliminate the concern wrt elections if they are merely a (non-default) option. They may make you more confident in your own vote being correctly recorded, but that does not eliminate the inherent issue.
Show threadJohn Panzer
@cykonot @YetAnotherGeekGuy @hakfoo @mattblaze You cannot eliminate ballot marking devices without disenfranchising people who are blind (to start a lengthy list, but that is an obvious one). What’s your proposal?
Jul 12, 2024 at 1:09amIvory for iOS
Show threadCykonotJul 12, 2024
@jpanzer @YetAnotherGeekGuy @hakfoo @mattblaze have an assistant?
India has implemented a much more secure electronic voting solution than ANY of our private options.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voting_in_India
Electronic voting in India - Wikipedia

Show threadJohn PanzerJul 12, 2024
@cykonot @YetAnotherGeekGuy @hakfoo @mattblaze Requiring an assistant is of course a barrier, unless one is provided by the State, and either way you have just violated their right to a secret ballot.
Show threadCykonotJul 12, 2024
@jpanzer@mastodon.social @YetAnotherGeekGuy @hakfoo @mattblaze okay there's an electronic solution right there?
In my vote by mail state, there are fields you can use to indicate having helped prepare the document.