Matt Blaze3d ago

RE: https://esq.social/@SuffolkLITLab/116229521620498862

The ProPublica piece is kind of a mess - it doesn't even mention CISA by name - but some of the issues are concerning. In particular, the proposals are extremely vague.

They want to ban "voting machines" (under what authority?). Does that mean touchscreen DREs? Fine, that's what virtually all technical experts have recommended for a while. Or do they mean any electronic tabulation, including optical scan paper ballots (widely used and amenable to reliable post-election audits)?

Show threadMatt Blaze3d ago
One gets the impression from the article that the current CISA leadership is focused more on re-litigating 2020 than on meaningfully helping states improve their election security, but hopefully they can be nudged toward advocating practical, proven, high-impact reforms, like default use of hand-marked paper ballots and routine post-election risk-limiting audits.
Show threadMatt Blaze3d ago
It's also worth noting that DHS/CISA has essentially no authority over elections, which are run by states. Their role is advisory, particularly recommending best practices and disseminating threat intelligence.
Show threadMatt Blaze3d ago

Also, it's simply too late to make any major changes to election systems this year. Primaries have already started, and the general election is in eight months.

I think it's reasonable to suspect that the play here is simply to set the stage for casting doubt on election outcomes that they regard as unfavorable.

Show threadMatt Blaze3d ago

Once again:

- There are security weaknesses in parts of US election systems, particularly those that use paperless touchscreen voting machines, and we should absolutely address them.

- Fortunately, there is no evidence to date that these technical weaknesses have ever been exploited to alter a US election outcome.

- We know how to secure elections! Paper ballots, optical scanners, post-election risk-limiting audits.

- There's been a great deal of progress, but there's still work to do.

Show threadlin11c

@mattblaze
This is the system to use. Hand filled out ballots that are scanned. The machines are owned by GQP Operatives PRIVATE corporations. Dominion was just bought by a GQP former election official!! Not suspicious at all. The new machines use a bar code apparently. Anything like this can be tampered with. If people think these operatives won't fix with results by any means necessary, then they are deluded.

https://abcnews.com/US/dominion-voting-systems-sold-company-run-former-republican/story?id=126378259

Dominion Voting Systems sold to company run by former Republican election official

Dominion was at the center of false 2020 election fraud conspiracy theories.

ABC News
Mar 15 at 3:28pmWeb
Show threadMatt Blaze2d ago

@lin11c the people you’re citing are election deniers who are raising money to “prove” that the 2024 election was rigged. They’re suckering statistically unsophisticated Harris supporters with nonsensical but complex pseudo mathematical bullshit.

Please don’t promote this stuff.

Show threadlin11c2d ago

@mattblaze

From their website.

Are you saying this is false?

"New York elections are at a dangerous crossroads. New types of voting machines, called “all-in-one” and “universal-use”, are attempting to flood the state. After a four-year battle against it, a new All-in-One voting machine called the ExpressVote XL was approved on 8/2/23 by the NY State Board of Elections.

The ExpressVote XL also wraps your vote in a barcode. The barcode is what's counted, not the text you see...

Show threadMatt Blaze2d ago

@lin11c no, I am not saying that particular statement is false. But they are grifters who are using fake statistics to claim that the 2024 election was stolen and raising money for lawsuits that give false hope to Harris supporters.

What a weird response.

Show threadlin11c2d ago
@mattblaze
This was on their website. I will remove the link. There is an extreme under reaction to what is happening right now in terms of GQP sabotage leading up to the 2026 midterms IMO.
Show threadAndy Green, Ph.D.   2d ago

@mattblaze we've got an ongoing mess in georgia.

we were using printed ballots from ballot marking devices that had a qr code at the bottom. the scanners were reading the qr code for counting purposes, not the human readable portion.

the good news is that we passed a law requiring the stoppage of that practice effective july 2026. the bad news is that an effort to require hand marked paper ballots failed by 2 votes in the senate this session.

i wrote a bit about it at https://andygreen.phd/blog/2026/03/13/sb568-fails-what-next/

i don't know what's going to happen next, to be honest...

Georgia Senate Bill 568 fails — again, we wait | Andrew William Green, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Information Security and Assurance, Kennesaw State University