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The Machinery of Democracy
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About the BookThe Brennan Center for Justice at New York University convened a high-level task force of voting experts from government, academia and the private sector to systematically analyze vulnerabilities in electronic voting systems used across the country. In this ground-breaking book, a crack team of technical experts concentrates on three main types of electronic voting systems: Direct Recording Electronic (DRE), Direct Recording Electronic with Voter Verified Paper Trail (DRE w/VVPT), and Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS). All three voting systems are shown to have significant security and reliability risks. What is unique about this book is that it not only systematically identifies 120 potential threats to voting technology, but that it offers specific remedies and countermeasures that election officials can employ to make these attacks more difficult to perform. This is an eye-opening account not only of the hazards of electronic voting in the 21st century, but a level-headed approach for dealing with real and potential threats to democratic elections. A second part of this crucial report, entitled “Cast Out,” deals with voter repression. It enumerates the many ways voters are deprived of their electoral rights by those who are determined to use the reforms of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) as “an opportunity to restrict rather than enhance the franchise.” An examination of these techniques reveals how manipulation of our electoral system can actually disenfranchise more Americans than any of the mechanical voting machine failures we see on Election Day. About the AuthorHoward Schmidt is former White House Cyber Security Advisor to George W. Bush and former Chief Security Officer for Microsoft. |
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