The Future of Voting Accessible Reliable Verifiable Technology - National Academies

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Chris Krebs
@C_C_Krebs
Restore confidence in Democracy by investing in Democracy!
1) Consistent Fed grants for State/local election admin.
2) Achieve 100% auditability (paper!) & more/better audits - Read the @theNASEM report for more: https://nationalacademies.org/our-work/the-future-of-voting-accessible-reliable-verifiable-technology…
3) More funding for K-12 civic education.

The Future of Voting Accessible Reliable Verifiable Technology | National Academies
Learn more from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
nationalacademies.org

https://www.nap.edu/read/25120/chapter/1

When we were asked in fall 2016 to serve as co-chairs of the committee that would ultimately author the current report, it seemed that our attention would be focused on identifying technological solutions that could redress problems such as long lines at polling places and outdated election systems. We imagined that we would offer an evaluation of the innovations being adopted by forward-looking election administrators across the nation. We suspected that we would find that voting systems are moving away from in-person physical balloting toward systems that embrace technologies that enable remote (Internet) voting.

However, by the time the committee met for the first time in April 2017, it was clear that the most significant threat to the American elections system was coming, not from faulty or outdated technologies, but from efforts to undermine the credibility of election results. Unsubstantiated claims about election outcomes fanned by social and other media threaten civic stability. Perhaps even more troubling is evidence that foreign actors are targeting our election infrastructure in an attempt to undermine confidence in our democratic institutions. On a regular, almost daily basis, we learned more about the nature of and motives behind this new and dangerous development.

Even as we received testimony from election administrators and experts from government, industry, and academia regarding the many issues faced in the conduct of elections, we were constantly reminded in news stories, by congressional hearings, and through reports from the intelligence community of the extraordinary threat from foreign actors using cyber weapons and social media to manipulate the electorate and to target our elections and cast doubt on the integrity of the elections process.

The current report makes numerous recommendations designed to harden our election infrastructure and safeguard its integrity and credibility.

We live in a nation that is unique in the tremendous importance it places on free speech. This remarkable privilege was enshrined in the First Amendment by the framers of the Constitution. Not only does the Constitution forbid official censorship, but it invests our government with the extraordinary responsibility of ensuring that all Americans can be heard. In this context, the ability of the citizenry to participate in elections and have their votes accurately cast and counted is paramount.

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