Voting in the age of COVID-19
Hopefully, by the time of this talk, all voters will have the option of voting by mail, depositing their voted ballots in secure drop boxes, or casting their ballots in safe polling places, possibly during early voting. To protect the security of the voters’ ballots, no internet voting, including mobile phone voting, should be allowed, though some will be.
But, despite the current challenges, it will not be sufficient to have secure and easily available voting. By using mathematically sound post-election ballot audits, states can check that vote with tabulating scanners – which are computers and therefore vulnerable to hacking – to report the correct outcomes.
I’ll survey the current status of the election, explain why internet voting is fundamentally insecure, and, as time permits, discuss post-election ballot audits and how they are conducted.