Challenging Insecure Voting Systems

LEGAL CHALLENGE TO THE INSECURE EXPRESSVOTE XL VOTING MACHINE: NEDC V. BOOCKVAR

Free Speech For People has filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania state court challenging the use of the insecure, unreliable ExpressVote XL voting machines. The lawsuit, filed against Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar with the pro bono assistance of the law firm Baker Hostetler LLP, argues that the ExpressVote XL does not meet legal requirements for voting machines under the Pennsylvania Election Code, and use of it violates voting rights under the Pennsylvania Constitution. Our lawsuit seeks an order to the Secretary to decertify the ExpressVote XL.

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COMMENT SUBMITTED TO THE U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

Free Speech For People and the National Election Defense Coalition (NEDC) submitted a public comment to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission regarding the Commission’s proposed new voting system guidelines. The Commission’s past practice has been that, after guidelines have been updated, voting machine vendors can still certify their machines against the older guidelines. Our comment asks the Commission to ensure that the older guidelines are retired for good.

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COMMENT HIGHLIGHTING MAJOR FLAWS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY VOTING SYSTEM

Free Speech For People and the National Election Defense Coalition submitted public comments to California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, regarding the proposed certification of Los Angeles county’s Voting Solutions for All People 2.0 (VSAP) election system. The joint letter addresses the system’s non-compliance with California Voting System Standards, and flaws that bring the VSAP’s security and reliability into question.

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VIRTUAL FORUM: TODAY’S ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES, AN EXAMINATION OF THE USE AND SECURITY OF BALLOT MARKING DEVICES

On Tuesday, June 22, 2021, Free Speech For People and Coalition for Good Governance held a virtual forum on Zoom, featuring experts in election administration and computer science to explore this rapidly expanding election technology. Electronic Ballot Marking Devices (BMD), once used primarily to offer assistive technology to mark a paper ballot, are now being adopted widely as the primary voting method for all voters in several states and counties. But how do these machines satisfy the principles of security, transparency, and auditability necessary for trustworthy elections? And what are the potential legal complications? This forum took an in-depth look at these questions and more, and aims to provide election officials, state and federal lawmakers, voters, and stakeholder groups with critical considerations regarding the use of BMDs as a primary voting method. Presented by Free Speech For People, Coalition for Good Governance, Professor Richard Demillo, Chair of the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy at Georgia Tech*, and Professor J. Alex Halderman of the University of Michigan’s Center for Computer Security and Society.* *Affiliations listed for identification purposes only and do not imply institutional endorsement.

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CHALLENGING FALSE ADVERTISING BY VOTING MACHINE VENDORS

On August 13, we won a significant victory before the US Election Assistance Commission (EAC). In January, we co-wrote a letter to the EAC which detailed evidence showing that Election Systems & Software (ES&S), the nation’s largest voting machine manufacturer, was deceptively marketing its DS200 voting machines that include wireless modems as federally certified by the EAC. In response to our letter, the EAC launched an investigation of the voting system and agreed with our findings. The EAC has now censured ES&S for the false claims, and is directing ES&S to recall all misleading marketing materials, in addition to notifying customers to inform them that the voting systems with modems are non-EAC certified.

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LETTER URGING MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL TO INITIATE INQUIRY INTO ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINE VENDOR’S MISREPRESENTATION OF INSECURE WIRELESS MODEMS

Free Speech For People issued a letter to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel urging her office to launch an inquiry into ES&S’s false claims about its DS200 ballot tabulators with wireless modems. Although ES&S frequently claims that its voting tabulators never connect to the internet, researchers have found multiple election systems visible on the internet. The letter further calls for the state to compel ES&S to remove the modems at no cost to the state or localities and consider judicial action if the vendor refuses to do so.

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Free Speech For People works in partnership with a broad coalition of democracy and civil rights organizations to oppose the adoption of online voting.

The Department of Homeland Security, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, and countless computer security experts have rejected online voting as unacceptably insecure for public government elections because of the inherent, insoluble security risks, the continued cyber threats to elections, and other election interference activities.

Nevertheless, Internet voting systems companies have increased their lobbying efforts to pass laws to permit or expand online voting to increase the market for their insecure products in states across the country. This national effort necessitates a counter-campaign to protect our elections and prevent the expansion of online voting.

Advancing key election security, like eliminating Internet voting, has been complicated by the Big Lie and false claims of compromised voting systems. As stated by Susan Greenhalgh, Senior Advisor on Election Security for Free Speech For People, and J. Alex Halderman, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan, in a recent oped for Newsweek, “Plenty has been written about how the Big Lie is corroding public trust and tearing at the fabric of our democracy. But in addition to these obvious harms, Trump’ insidious disinformation is also inhibiting legitimate and necessary election security reforms.”

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