New Report Introduces Measures to Enhance Electronic Voting Security
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 6/30/2004
Seeking to bolster security, accessibility, and public confidence in the voting process, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) released a report this week outlining specific recommendations for election officials whose jurisdictions will use electronic voting systems in the 2004 elections."The recommendations of this report are common sense solutions agreed upon by both the civil rights community and some of the nation's leading computer security experts," said Wade Henderson, executive director of LCCR. "Assuring the security of everyone's votes is no less important than having the right to vote."
The report, "Recommendations for Improving Reliability of Direct Recording Electronic Voting Systems," outlines eight recommendations for ensuring accuracy and security in the November elections. Most importantly, the report urges election officials to hire well-qualified computer security teams to examine the hardware and software used in voting systems, and calls for critical evaluation of election-day procedures and voting machine security.
The report also encourages formation of independent election oversight panels for monitoring and assessing security performance.
"In the wake of the 2000 election, 'Trust me' is not the right answer," said Deborah Goldberg, democracy program director at the Brennan Center, when asked about the necessity of the suggested preparatory measures. "Why take the risk? Let's make sure that we have taken all possible steps to ensure that voting is accessible and secure.
With the November election only four months away, the report's authors and endorsers hope their recommendations will help local and state election officials ensure accessibility and security in their jurisdictions.
"The best way to address the current crisis in voting for 2004 is to bring in security experts with a mandate to discover the problems and find practical ways to mitigate the risks," said Avi Rubin, technical director at Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute and first author of the Hopkins' study on DRE voting machines. "The LCCR/Brennan Center recommendations explain specifically how to go about this process and supply a model RFP to speed the work of the states. Election officials should move forward rapidly."
The report's suggestions also have been well-received by DeForest Soaries, Jr., chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, a clearinghouse created by the 2002 Help America Vote Act that gathers and disseminates voting information to local election officials.
"These recommendations represent important options that address the nation's need for strategies to enhance security and public confidence in the use of electronic voting systems," Soaries said.
Lillie Coney, senior policy analyst with the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), thanked LCCR and the Brennan Center for their efforts to provide recommendations.
"It is my hope that these recommendations will be followed aggressively in an effort to restore voter confidence in the election's process," Coney said.
In addition to a long list of computer security experts, the report was endorsed by many advocacy organizations, including the AFL-CIO, American Association of People with Disabilities, Common Cause, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the NAACP, National Committee for Voting Integrity, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and People For the American Way.
