The question of election fraud is a worldwide concern, but the use of electronic voting machines introduced shortly after the turn of the century is in definite decline.
Less than a dozen countries worldwide allow the use of the machines for national elections. Some like Bangladesh, allow them for use in local elections, but others have decided the experiment, after more than a decade, is too fraught with bugs to allow further. The Philippines, for example, has been using them since 2010 but its congress is reconsidering returning to paper ballots.
France and Switzerland allow expats to vote online but like most of Europe, paper ballots are standardized.
hacking election systems
The US, where the security concerns have had a major influence on candidates, has largely shut down all voting machine usage, with the exception of the commonwealth of Louisiana, which also has the most restrictive laws against absentee ballots.
All of that brings up the question, “What was the big deal about hacking election systems?”
Well, it’s more than the machines that voters used to make their decisions. There is a lot more to it and the DEF CON Voting Village has been at the forefront of making sure ALL the technology involved in voting is secure. Right now, they are having a bit of a difficulty reaching there fundraising goals, so if you’re interested, donate online at votingvillage.org/donate or send a physical check to
Election Integrity Foundation, Inc.
PO BOX 1754
New York, NY 10163
The Voting Village is the world’s most definitive, reliable, non-partisan information about U.S. voting systems, providing information about election technology and allowing security experts, legislators, election officials, and the public to explore the security and trustworthiness of existing and proposed voting systems. Thea annual event since 2017 provides hands-on opportunities to understand and analyze voting system hardware and software as well as our election system as a whole.
But fixing the tech is just part of the problem. Every citizen in a democratic country has to take personal responsibility to ensure they are not influenced by bad actors, internally or from hostile nation states. That means being aware of disinfornation and not spreading it. Doing your own “research” doesn’t mean reading your social media posts, especially those in Alphabet, Meta and X. Both those platforms have seriously downgraded their efforts and staff dedicated to curbing false news’s expand your circles to include (heavens!) print media. Amazingly enough, print, according to the latest research by Pew is showing a growing trust of print over social media. Time to get with the program.
