Hello Democracy leaders,
Please take a minute to email or call your Senate and Congressional offices about this important event and tell them how critical it is for them to send a staffer to the Congressional Briefing.
We want to fill the room and make election integrity a top national security priority.
Find your Representative and Senators here: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members
Thank you! Details follow below:
Date and location: November 21st 10am in Senate Dirksen G-11.
Briefing will feature nationally recognized security and auditing experts including:
- Dr. Andrew Appel – University of Princeton Professor of Computer Science
- Dr. Stephanie Singer – Verified Voting Consultant and former Philadelphia Election Commissioner
- Bennie Smith – Memphis Tennessee Election Commissioner and Computer Programmer
Panel will be moderated by Lulu Friesdat – Award-winning election security journalist and filmmaker
The panel will feature a demonstration of malware changing votes on an actual voting system, flipping the winner of the race in a matter of seconds. Panelists will cover current vulnerabilities in U.S. voting systems, available solutions, and the need for a rapid response to this crisis. Voters, including voters with disabilities, must know that their votes are counted accurately and securely.
Recommendations from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence:
- States should remain firmly in the lead on running elections, and the federal government should ensure they receive the necessary resources and information.
- States should take urgent steps to replace outdated and vulnerable voting systems.
- Paper ballots and optical scanners are the least vulnerable to cyber attack; at minimum, any [voting] machine purchased going forward should have a voter-verified paper trail and remove … any wireless networking capability.
- Statistically sound audits may be the simplest and most direct way to ensure confidence in the integrity of the vote … Risk-limiting audits, or some similarly rigorous alternative, are the future of ensuring that votes cast are votes counted.
- More funds may be needed, as the allocation under the HAVA formula did not prioritize replacing vulnerable electronic-only machines.
- Dr. Halderman testified that replacing insecure paperless voting machines nationwide would cost $130 to $400 million dollars. Risk-limiting audits would cost less than $20 million a year.[1]
- The Committee believes the benefit of having a provably accurate vote is worth the cost
Contact: SMART Elections Co-founder Lulu Friesdat
SMART Elections, a non-partisan project dedicated to “Elevating Election Reform to an Urgent National Priority” to hold a Congressional Briefing on Election Security.
Email: [email protected] | 917.543.2125
[1] In follow up email with SMART Elections Dr. Halderman estimated the cost of replacing all of the most vulnerable equipment at around $370 million dollars. Using the HAVA formula “to ensure each state receives at least 100% of its share” his estimate was 1.8 billion. That figure is close to the 2.153 billion dollars The Brennan Center says is needed for “basic security items.”Rose Colacino
Election Integrity & Security
Voters’ Rights Lead
Indivisible Illinois
Phone: 773-343-9849
EM: [email protected]
