Episode 48 - Black Ballot Box

Of all Western Democracies, the US is ranked last in terms of free and fair elections (52nd worldwide). On top of the political reasons for that, our election systems (voting machines; registration lists; centralized election management systems; reporting sites) are all vulnerable and easy to hack. Audits on these systems rarely ever occur. In a broken system like this, what does political participation mean? The solutions to these problems are right in front of our eyes, but when those who write the rules come to power through the very system we need to fix, can we ever hope to implement them?

full transcript available

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Chapters

  • 02:25 Our least favorite Gerry
  • 06:30 The annual purge
  • 14:12 The founding fathers would be proud
  • 26:44 The scary part
  • 31:04 Voting machines we use
  • 41:38 Not just voting machines
  • 49:45 Will the internet save us?
  • 54:56 How do we go forward?

Sources

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@misc{AP_2015, title={Wichita State mathematician says Kansas voting machines need audit}, url={https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article27951310.html}, journal={kansas}, author={AP}, year={2015}, month={Jul} }

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@misc{Camila Domonoske_2018, title={Many Native IDs Won’t Be Accepted At North Dakota Polling Places}, url={https://www.npr.org/2018/10/13/657125819/many-native-ids-wont-be-accepted-at-north-dakota-polling-places}, journal={NPR.org}, author={Camila Domonoske}, year={2018}, month={Oct} }

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@misc{Greenberg_2017, title={How An Entire Nation Became Russia’s Test Lab for Cyberwar}, url={https://www.wired.com/story/russian-hackers-attack-ukraine/}, journal={Wired}, author={Greenberg, Andy}, year={2017}, month={Jun} }

@misc{Greg Palast_2018, title={Georgia’s Kemp Purged 340,134 Voters, Falsely Asserting They Had Moved}, url={https://truthout.org/articles/georgias-kemp-purged-340134-voters-falsely-asserting-they-had-moved/}, journal={Truthout}, author={Greg Palast}, year={2018}, month={Oct} }

@misc{Halpern_2018, title={The Campaign for Mobile-Phone Voting Is Getting a Midterm Test}, url={https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-campaign-for-mobile-phone-voting-is-getting-a-midterm-test}, author={Halpern, Sue}, year={2018}, month={Oct} }

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@misc{Herndon_Gabriel_2018a, title={Showdown in Georgia Governor’s Race Reflects a Larger Fight Over Voting Rights}, url={https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/us/politics/georgia-abrams-kemp-voting.html}, journal={The New York Times}, author={Herndon, Astead W. and Gabriel, Trip}, year={2018}, month={Oct} }

@misc{Herndon_Gabriel_2018b, title={Showdown in Georgia Governor’s Race Reflects a Larger Fight Over Voting Rights}, url={https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/us/politics/georgia-abrams-kemp-voting.html}, journal={The New York Times}, author={Herndon, Astead W. and Gabriel, Trip}, year={2018}, month={Oct} }

@misc{Jonathan Brater_Kevin Morris_Myrna Perez_Christopher Deluzio_2018, title={Purges: A Growing Threat to the Right to Vote | Brennan Center for Justice}, url={https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/purges-growing-threat-right-vote}, journal={Brennan Center for Justice}, author={Jonathan Brater and Kevin Morris and Myrna Perez and Christopher Deluzio}, year={2018}, month={Jul} }

@misc{Kathy Dopp_Frank Stenger_2006, title={The Election Integrity Audit: Why Audit Election Results?}, url={https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/itl/vote/ElectionIntegrityAudit.pdf}, journal={Election Archive}, author={Kathy Dopp and Frank Stenger}, year={2006}, month={Sep} }

@misc{Kim Soffen_2016, title={How racial gerrymandering deprives black people of political power}, url={https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/09/how-a-widespread-practice-to-politically-empower-african-americans-might-actually-harm-them/}, journal={Washington Post}, author={Kim Soffen}, year={2016}, month={Jun} }

@misc{Lapowsky_2018, title={A Dead-Simple Algorithm Reveals the True Toll of Voter ID Laws}, url={https://www.wired.com/story/voter-id-law-algorithm/}, journal={Wired}, author={Lapowsky, Issie}, year={2018}, month={Jan} }

@misc{Mark Niesse_Maya Prabhu_Jacquelyn Elias_2018, title={Voting precincts closed across Georgia since election oversight lifted}, url={https://politics.myajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/voting-precincts-closed-across-georgia-since-election-oversight-lifted/bBkHxptlim0Gp9pKu7dfrN/}, journal={politics.myajc}, author={Mark Niesse and Maya Prabhu and Jacquelyn Elias}, year={2018}, month={Aug} }

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@misc{Nadler_2018, title={Voting rights become a flashpoint in Georgia governor’s race}, url={https://apnews.com/fb011f39af3b40518b572c8cce6e906c}, journal={AP NEWS}, author={Nadler, Ben}, year={2018}, month={Oct} }

@misc{NASEM_2018, title={Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy}, url={http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=25120}, journal={NASEM}, author={NASEM}, year={2018}, month={Sep} }

@misc{Nilsen_2018, title={Republicans are making it harder for people to vote in key 2018 elections}, url={https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/25/18010928/2018-midterm-elections-voting-rights-purges}, journal={Vox}, author={Nilsen, Ella}, year={2018}, month={Oct} }

@misc{Ockerman_2018, title={Some Georgia voting machines aren’t counting votes for Democrat Stacey Abrams, NAACP says}, url={https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/3km9w9/some-georgia-voting-machines-arent-counting-votes-for-democrat-stacy-abrams-naacp-says}, journal={Vice News}, author={Ockerman, Emma}, year={2018}, month={Oct} }

@misc{Orcutt_2018, title={Why security experts hate that “blockchain voting” will be used in the midterm elections}, url={https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611850/why-security-experts-hate-that-blockchain-voting-will-be-used-in-the-midterm-elections/}, abstractNote={It’s too dangerous to conduct elections over the internet, they say, and West Virginia’s new plan to put votes on a blockchain doesn’t fix that.}, journal={MIT Technology Review}, author={Orcutt, Mike}, year={2018}, month={Aug} }

@misc{Pippa Norris_2017, title={US Elecdtions Rank Last Among All Western Democracies}, url={https://www.electoralintegrityproject.com/eip-blogs/2017/1/7/its-even-worse-than-the-news-about-north-carolina-american-elections-rank-last-among-all-western-democracies}, journal={Electoral Integrity Project}, author={Pippa Norris}, year={2017}, month={Jan} }

@misc{Rosenberg_2018, title={‘The most bizarre thing I’ve ever been a part of’: Trump panel found no widespread voter fraud, ex-member says}, url={https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/08/03/the-most-bizarre-thing-ive-ever-been-a-part-of-trump-panel-found-no-voter-fraud-ex-member-says/}, journal={Washington Post}, author={Rosenberg}, year={2018}, month={Aug} }

@misc{Sasse_2018, title={Politics Can’t Solve Our Political Problems}, url={https://www.wsj.com/articles/politics-cant-solve-our-political-problems-1539364986}, journal={Wall Street Journal}, author={Sasse, Ben}, year={2018}, month={Oct} }

@misc{Shannon Vavra_Joe Uchill_2018, title={Reports: Votes in Texas, Georgia are being changed at polls}, url={https://www.axios.com/votes-texas-georgia-changed-polls-election-security-midterms-2018-a70ea590-5e97-409c-922b-d74792a49e1c.html}, journal={Axios}, author={Shannon Vavra and Joe Uchill}, year={2018}, month={Oct} }

@misc{Ted Enamorado_2018, title={Georgia’s ‘exact match’ law could potentially harm many eligible voters.}, url={https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/10/20/georgias-exact-match-law-could-disenfranchise-3031802-eligible-voters-my-research-finds/}, journal={Washington Post}, author={Ted Enamorado}, year={2018}, month={Oct} }

@misc{Zetter_2018a, title={Top Voting Machine Vendor Admits It Installed Remote-Access Software on Systems Sold to States}, url={https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/mb4ezy/top-voting-machine-vendor-admits-it-installed-remote-access-software-on-systems-sold-to-states}, journal={Motherboard}, author={Zetter, Kim}, year={2018}, month={Jul} }

@misc{Zetter_2018b, title={The Crisis of Election Security}, url={https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/magazine/election-security-crisis-midterms.html}, journal={The New York Times}, author={Zetter, Kim}, year={2018}, month={Sep} }

Published 01-11-2018 01:34