Good news in California! Several months ago, a bill (SB1480), was introduced in the California Senate that would dangerously impact California’s elections by expanding voting over the Internet.  SB 1480’s aim was to improve accessibility for voters with disabilities, which we strongly support, but the online voting proposal would endanger not only the security and privacy of voters that choose to use the system, but could undermine the security of all of California’s elections. 

We worked for months with a broad coalition of national and California-based organizations and computer scientists to inform lawmakers about the profound security risks that would be introduced with SB 1480. We coordinated with our partners at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Money Out, Voters In, Los Angeles County Voters’ Action Coalition, Verified Voting, Public Citizen, Indivisible State Strong and many others. We spoke with members and staff to share research from the Department of Homeland Security, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine,  and many more scientists, which all agree that ballots cast online are at high risk of manipulation. We activated our supporters in California to reach out to lawmakers and ask them not to advance the bill.  

Though the bill had passed easily through the Senate, all our efforts added up and the sponsor withdrew the bill from consideration before it could advance in the Assembly. This is an important victory to protect elections in California and stop the spread of dangerous online voting.