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Why can’t we just vote online? Let us count the ways. Why can’t we just vote online? Let us count the ways.
(about 3 hours later)
ELECTIONS IN the United States have been thrown into disarray by a pandemic that makes packing into polling places a risk the country cannot afford to take. Why, some are asking, isn’t voting over the Internet the smartest option in the modern age?ELECTIONS IN the United States have been thrown into disarray by a pandemic that makes packing into polling places a risk the country cannot afford to take. Why, some are asking, isn’t voting over the Internet the smartest option in the modern age?
Let us count the ways.Let us count the ways.
The greatest threat to democracy on Election Day is hacking, and cybersecurity experts have long agreed that the intelligent response is to take as much cyber out of the security equation as possible. Pen-and-paper ballots let officials count hard copies and compare them with electronic tallies after the fact. Critical infrastructure that’s disconnected from the Web keeps systems further from adversaries’ reach. Putting voting online, of course, follows the precise opposite of this advice.The greatest threat to democracy on Election Day is hacking, and cybersecurity experts have long agreed that the intelligent response is to take as much cyber out of the security equation as possible. Pen-and-paper ballots let officials count hard copies and compare them with electronic tallies after the fact. Critical infrastructure that’s disconnected from the Web keeps systems further from adversaries’ reach. Putting voting online, of course, follows the precise opposite of this advice.
An Internet election presents plenty of penetration points for an enemy to attack. Election officials must figure out how to ensure the security of individuals’ personal devices (many of which are already infected by some sort of malware) as well as how to keep remote adversaries away from a server that’s necessarily connected to the Web. Then there’s the trouble of guaranteeing voters are who they say they are. This task is easier for, say, the Estonian e-government, which issues ID smart cards with advanced authentication capabilities to every citizen — but researchers say even that nation’s vaunted I-voting system is all too vulnerable. An Internet election presents plenty of penetration points for an enemy to attack. Election officials must figure out how to ensure the security of individuals’ personal devices (many of which are already infected by some sort of malware) as well as how to keep remote adversaries away from a server that’s necessarily connected to the Web. Then there’s the trouble of guaranteeing that voters are who they say they are. This task is easier for, say, the Estonian e-government, which issues ID smart cards with advanced authentication capabilities to every citizen — but researchers say even that nation’s vaunted I-voting system is all too vulnerable.
The auditing that’s the fail-safe for imperfect cybersecurity falls apart in Web voting, too. The secret ballot makes it impossible to create for elections the equivalent of banking’s double-ledger. There’s no posting votes on a government portal for verification, or emailing voters their submission back, because the separation between vote and voter is sacrosanct. Academics have been investigating the possibility of a cryptographic solution to this problem, but it’s several years away from being ready for prime time — not several months, and certainly not several weeks. The auditing that’s the fail-safe for imperfect cybersecurity falls apart in Web voting, too. The secret ballot makes it impossible to create for elections the equivalent of banking’s double ledger. There’s no posting votes on a government portal for verification, or emailing voters their submission back, because the separation between vote and voter is sacrosanct. Academics have been investigating the possibility of a cryptographic solution to this problem, but it’s several years away from being ready for prime time — not several months, and certainly not several weeks.
Technology promises to play an important part in making sure there’s a vote this fall and making sure that vote is open to all Americans. Expanding online registration to the entire population was a good idea before the coronavirus hit and is a fundamental one now. But by scrambling to surmount the obstacles an Internet election presents, the country would trade out the risk of infection at polling places for the risk of interference at the virtual ballot box. In a crisis, voting by mail remains the far safer option.Technology promises to play an important part in making sure there’s a vote this fall and making sure that vote is open to all Americans. Expanding online registration to the entire population was a good idea before the coronavirus hit and is a fundamental one now. But by scrambling to surmount the obstacles an Internet election presents, the country would trade out the risk of infection at polling places for the risk of interference at the virtual ballot box. In a crisis, voting by mail remains the far safer option.
Read more:Read more:
Marc Elias: The virus means we’ll be voting by mail. But that won’t be easy.Marc Elias: The virus means we’ll be voting by mail. But that won’t be easy.
Greg Sargent: Another reason to worry: Coronavirus could upend our electionGreg Sargent: Another reason to worry: Coronavirus could upend our election
David Becker: Mail-in ballots to avoid coronavirus? Yes, but here’s how to minimize chaos and unfairness.David Becker: Mail-in ballots to avoid coronavirus? Yes, but here’s how to minimize chaos and unfairness.