Even though the
actual election itself is still over a year away, all eyes both home and abroad
have turned their attention on the United States. As Barack Obama has already
served two terms and is not eligible for re-election, it means that this
upcoming federal election will necessarily name a new President of the United
States. It could be Florida Governor Jeb Bush. It could be former Secretary of
State Hillary
Clinton. It could be self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders. It
might even be real estate mogul Donald Trump.
And while the
magnitude of who will eventually emerge as the winner cannot be understated,
there is another very important story related to this upcoming election that
should not be ignored. The technology and infrastructure involved in running
the election are in dire need of improvement and upgrading.
A recent
report published by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University
School of Law indicates that 43 states will be using electronic voting machines
that are at least 10 years old for the 2016 elections and as many as 14 states
will be using machines that are more than 15 years old. This is well past their
expected lifespan, especially when you consider that many of these machines are
no longer manufactured and replacement parts are increasingly difficult to
find. This problem is particularly notable in a number of swing states, like
North Carolina and Virginia.
While some of
the wealthier counties have been able to afford the purchase and configuration
of new equipment, poorer and more rural counties have been left with older,
more dated machines that are more prone to issues and inconsistencies. A lot
has changed in the last decade and the electoral process in the United States
needs to reflect this.
Consider that
the United States is only now adopting the “chip” technology for credit cards,
a technology that has long since been used in a number of other developed
countries. Moving ahead with the democratic process requires a similar update
to the machinery and infrastructure used.
Some progress
has been made in expanding the availability of electronic
voter registration in the United States ahead of the 2016 election. The
next major step would be to not only update the electronic voting machines that
some constituents may use in person, but also to update the process to include
the possibility of voting online.
To this end, the US Vote Foundation has
put together a comprehensive report describing the future of Internet voting in
the country. More specifically, it calls for end-to-end verifiable Internet
voting, or E2E-VIV for short. This system would need to provide the proper
balance of security and transparency that the democratic process requires,
protecting the privacy of the vote while providing voters with the ability to
check the system. Voters can see if their online ballot was recorded correctly
and whether the vote was properly included in the final tally.
All current
systems, according to this report, are currently inadequate in guaranteeing
“voter privacy or the correct election outcomes.” The proposed Internet voting
system must
be usable and secure, with protections in place against “large-scale
coordinated attacks, both on its own infrastructure and on individual voters'
computers.”
The reality of
the situation is that the United States will not be ready for widespread
Internet voting in time for next year's elections. However, by following the
guidelines outlined by the US Vote Foundation report, the first steps can be
made to move in this direction in time for the next election. There are several
fundamental challenges that need to be overcome before Internet voting can
become a
reality on a mass scale in the country. In the meantime, America can look
to positive examples elsewhere in the world where e-voting and i-voting have
been successfully deployed.
Electoral
officials just have to recognize the immense importance of end-to-end
verifiability of any online-based voting system they consider.
