BREAKING NEDC NEWS
NEW REPORT BY NEDC AND ALLIES URGES NATIONWIDE E-BALLOT QUARANTINE
OCTOBER 2018: The Election Assistance Commission Responds to Expert warning against Wireless Modems in voting systems: Read EAC Response
The NEDC is a national network of recognized experts in cybersecurity and elections administration, bipartisan policymakers, and concerned citizens and movement-builders. We are working to build a bipartisan consensus on the need for reform, while building a comprehensive, cost-effective plan to secure the vote in coming elections.
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FEATURED NEWS:
The Crisis of Election Security
New York Times Magazine Cover Feature
September 26, 2018
As the midterms approach, America’s electronic voting systems are more vulnerable than ever. Why isn’t anyone trying to fix them?
“How did our election system get so vulnerable, and why haven’t officials tried harder to fix it? The answer, ultimately, comes down to politics and money: The voting machines are made by well-connected private companies that wield immense control over their proprietary software, often fighting vigorously in court to prevent anyone from examining it when things go awry.”
LATEST
Why federal courts may become the next front in the battle to secure our elections
11-Year-Old Changes Election Results On Florida’s Website: DefCon 2018
Top Voting Machine Vendor Admits It Installed Remote-Access Software on Systems Sold to States
NEDC ADVOCACY
CONGRESS APPROPRIATES $380 MILLION FOR ELECTION TECHNOLOGY UPGRADES
States MUST FUND PAPER BALLOTS AND ROBUST POST-ELECTION AUDITS
On March 23, 2018, Congress approved $380 million to improve election security.
While states will have flexibility in how they use this money, Congress has emphasized the importance of having a voter-verified paper record of every vote. In a memo, Congress also recommended those paper records be used to conduct post-election audits, ensuring voting machines have produced an accurate result.
Securing the Nation’s Voting Machines: A Toolkit for Advocates and Election Officials
This toolkit, created jointly by the Brennan Center for Justice, Common Cause, the National Election Defense Coalition, and Verified Voting, is meant as a roadmap for advocates and election officials nationwide as local jurisdictions consider purchasing new voting machines. It also suggests best practices for conducting post-election audits.
BIPARTISAN Legislation to protect elections
FreedomWorks supports the SEA. For over a quarter century, FreedomWorks has identified, educated, and actuated citizens who are enthused about showing up to support free enterprise and constitutionally limited government.
SENATE BILL 2593 - The Secure Elections Act
In 2016-2017, the National Election Defense Coalition (NEDC), with our partners and allies, orchestrated a bipartisan campaign to educate policy makers and urge them to implement federal and state security reforms.
This effort galvanized the Secure Elections Act (S.2593), introduced in December of 2017 by a bipartisan group of six Senators; James Lankford (R-OK), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Martin Heinrich (D-NM).
HOUSE BILL 3751 - THE PAPER ACT
There is a measure similar to Senate Bill 2593 in the US House, the PAPER Act (H.R. 3751), with strong bipartisan support, including Grover Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform. The immediate aim of both bills is to secure federal support for states and counties to replace antiquated paperless voting machines before the 2018 and 2020 federal elections and to press for policy changes to ensure election administrators have the auditing tools and training to detect and thwart a cyber-attack.
100 COMPUTER SCIENTISTS AND CYBER EXPERTS call on CONGRESS: SECURE AMERICAN ELECTIONS
Dear Member of Congress:
Faith in American democracy rests on the integrity of our elections. So it stands to reason that lawmakers and administrators from both political parties should prioritize efforts to minimize election security risks. While there has been encouraging progress to improve election security in recent years, too many polling stations across the nation are still equipped with electronic machines that do not produce voter-verified paper ballots. Many jurisdictions are also inadequately prepared to deal with rising cybersecurity risks.
We are writing to you as members of the computer science and cybersecurity communities, together with statisticians and election auditing experts, to convey our concern about these and other vulnerabilities in our voting system and to urge you to take the following simple, straightforward, and cost-effective actions to set meaningful standards to protect American elections. We represent both major political parties, independents, and a range of academic institutions and private sector organizations, but we are united in our belief that the United States, the world’s oldest representative democracy, needs prompt action to ensure prudent elections security standards.
NEDC EVENTS
Professor Alex Halderman, NEDC advisor, testifies before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee Hearing.
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Related Articles
Lawmakers told of growing cyber threat to election systems - The Hill
Computer expert: Some voting machines can be directly hacked - The Washington Examiner
If Voting Machines Were Hacked, Would Anyone Know? - NPR
NEDC and allies present the case for election security to over 100 Congressional staff members.
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NEWS & OPINION
CONGRESS APPROPRIATES $380 MILLION FOR ELECTION SECURITY
By Morgan Chalfant, The Hill
Congressional leaders are hammering out a massive spending bill that will include money to help secure U.S. voting systems from cyberattacks.
We need to hack-proof our elections. An old technology can help.
By Michael Chertoff and Grover Norquist, Washington Post
Michael Chertoff was secretary of homeland security from 2005 to 2009. Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform.
Time is running out. Lawmakers need to act immediately if we are to protect the 2018 and 2020 elections.
The TODAY Show : What Would It Take to Rig an Election?
WIRED Magazine: Want Secure Elections? Then Maybe Don't Cut Security Funding
US News and World Report: Our Elections Are at Risk Because of Bad Technology
The Hill: How to Restore Faith in American Elections
Huffington Post: Want to Understand Election Insecurity? Watch New Documentary "I Voted?"
CBS News: Cybersecurity expert: One battleground state most vulnerable to voting hacks
WIRED Magazine: As elections loom, officials debate how to protect voting from hackers
Sue Halpern
The New Yorker
April 18, 2018
Last month, when Congress authorized three hundred and eighty million dollars to help states protect their voting systems from hacking, it was a public acknowledgement that, seven months out from the midterm elections, those systems remain vulnerable to attack.